Missing Pieces
by Hollow Pages
Summary: AU. Set in a world where Bella has been a vampire for twenty years, ten of which was with the Volturi, and has returned to her home of Forks to find herself alone and unsure. This is a short, commissioned piece, and will contain elements of romance - there will be several parts meant to explore a different take on the characters and relationships. Alice/Bella. T for language.
1. Part One

**Disclaimer: Anything Twilight related does NOT belong to me. I am simply the writer taking the general idea given to me and turning it into a story.**

 **Missing Pieces - Part One**

I breathed in deep, counting the seconds in my head like the ticking of a clock. One, two, three, four… I waited until I reached ten, stopped, then opened my eyes. I could smell quite a number of things around me, at which point, I mentally catalogued them - a preference of mine, I suppose.

I could smell the trees, the grass, and the dirt, first and foremost. Given the fact that my home, Forks, was a heavily wooded place, it made sense these would be the strongest smells. They were quite pleasant during this time of year - it was close to autumn, and with the shift in temperature and weather, that meant the leaves were crisping and preparing to start falling. I loved it - I loved the colors of the leaves during autumn, and I loved all the scents that came with it. There was an equally crisp quality to the smells that just eased me with the leaves and the trees. It made me smile.

I could also smell flowers in the distance - not many, but, the flavor was there, wafting about in the breeze that blew overhead, ruffling my hair. And I could smell several other, fainter scents - animals, and humans. The human smells were the weakest, likely hikers or people who strolled about in this part of the woods where I was currently resting. The animals were a little stronger, mostly tiny woodland creatures like squirrels and birds, and some deer, a herd of them several yards out. Their scents brought the faintest flavor of blood to my nose, but, I had already fed on two deer a few hours ago.

My thirst was calm, thankfully. It allowed me to sit in the grass and just enjoy nature in peace, without the nagging desire to kill some innocent animal for my own survival.

I sighed. I tried to focus more on the smells, and I caught a whiff of something different, something strange to me, but it was much too far for me to really decipher. I considered going after it, to explore, of course, but opted against it. Being back in Forks after twenty years was a big deal for me, and right now, what I wanted most was just to soak in the atmosphere. It was so… strange to be back, after such a long time, even if twenty years didn't feel long in the grander scheme of things.

Twenty years…

Now that I was really thinking about it, it seemed more than strange that so much time had passed, and so much had changed since then. It all started off great, a family vacation to Italy with my parents, but then it ended with death and screams and nightmares that would stay with me for the rest of my now immortal life - unless someone happened to kill me, which, hey, was a possibility now like it had been then.

It was also possible that my former 'coven' would be the ones to end my life, since I hadn't exactly left them on the best of terms. It didn't help that I wasn't the most cordial toward most of them toward the end of my stay there. After what they did to me, to my parents, to people I knew… I could still remember the words Aro used when I awaked from my transformation into a vampire.

"Dearest Isabella, you need only put your trust in us," Aro said, smiling that crinkled smile of his - it was a friendly, affable one, the one he often always wore, but I never truly knew if he meant it when he said anything kind. "We are your family now. And we look after our family, I assure you."

"But you killed my family," I said, staring him down. "You took them from me, and then turned me into THIS without my consent."

He had looked at me with a strange expression - almost one of shame and regret. "I cannot undo what we have done to you in that regard. I… am sorry, truly, for the pain we caused you. I know you won't fully believe that, and I don't expect you to. But you have been blessed with new life and new abilities, and here, you can use them to the fullest, of that you have my word."

"The world is a lot bigger than you know," Sulpicia said right after. "It is vast and dangerous, and we vampires are far more plentiful than you may think. Sad as the loss of your loved ones is, and regretful as the lack of consent on your part the changing may have been, look to the future, not to the past. It's easier that way."

"We will make amends, I promise," Aro said, smiling a little. "Or try to, at least."

I stared back at them silently. They seemed like they actually meant the words they said, and the emotion was reflected in their eyes. But whether it was real or simply engineered, I didn't know then, and I still didn't know now.

I sighed and shook the memory away. Part of me was numb to it all at this point, the memories of how my life had been turned upside down. But there was no point dwelling on it, really, since there was nothing I could do about it right now. At least I had a home to come back to. Sort of.

I got up and, at a more casual, human pace, started walking. I was in the middle of a large forest not far from my old home, which to my knowledge was still standing and still unoccupied. I guessed if I could be thankful to the Volturi for one thing, it was that someone - maybe Heidi, maybe Sulpicia, maybe Didyme, I didn't know for certain - had gone out of their way to keep the house in its current state, and to keep it in 'good' condition. Or so I was told.

"Why would you do that?" I asked Didyme, the one who made the comment the first time. She was the only Head that seemed to treat me like a person. "I live here now, and not really because I want to, either." I frowned. "Why say you'll keep my old house tidied up and tended to?"

Didyme gave me a small smile. "You never know, Bella. You could return there."

"I don't think the others would let me go…" I said. In fact, I knew they wouldn't, especially not Aro and Sulpicia. They liked me a lot, or something. "Besides, I thought Volturi guards weren't allowed to just up and quit? Don't they just kill you?"

"Oh, no," Didyme said. "They have allowed others to leave before. It's not a 'simple' matter, admittedly, but, it's possible. There were two members - Eleazar and Carmen, a mated pair. They left about thirty years ago, in truth, and their gifts were very useful as well for Aro and Sulpicia. Don't fear for your life if you wish to leave. They might not be thrilled about it, but no one dies for wanting to leave us."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"I promise," Didyme said softly. "I would not allow it."

I sighed. "Even so. I mean, I don't exactly have anything to go back to…"

"You might," Didyme said. She said it so… strangely, and when I looked at her, I couldn't really read her expression all that well. Her eyes weren't looking at me, and while her tone was gentle, there was just something about it. "You can never be sure until you do so, after all."

"Maybe," I said. I didn't know if this was some sort of test or not, but, I wasn't going to push it. Then again, she made it a little harder to do that with how she responded…

Didyme's smile grew. "Ah, but, really, how would they be able to stop you? Your shield is remarkable - it may not be best for physical defense, but against mental offense, it's a solid gift to possess. Demetri couldn't track you. They'd have to track you by scent, the traditional way."

I stared at her for a very long time. She sounded so casual and friendly as she talked about this, about me leaving the place that turned me into a vampire in the first place, that was basically the heart of the vampire government. There were things I was still learning about the Volturi despite the fact I'd been there for eight years, and I was still learning a lot about the vampire world in general.

And Didyme, one of the Heads, the sister of the main leader, was telling me to my face that she thought I could - and should - leave. I didn't understand it. Why would she want me to go? Wasn't it in her best interest for me to stay? To keep the Volturi strong?

"You look at me as if I've grown a second head," Didyme said, chortling. "Don't be so surprised! I want to see you happy, not miserable, Bella."

I continued to stare at her. "Are you… are you telling me to leave, Didyme?"

"Am I?" Didyme asked, shrugging. There was a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "I don't know that I'm telling you anything you didn't already know, Bella. You're younger than most of us, true, but you grew up in a newer age. You've got a good head on your shoulders and a solid understanding of the world. Inexperienced, yes, that may be true, but you shouldn't think you can't do something because of this. And really. Why stay in a place that makes you unhappy? No one is forcing you to stay. I see no reason."

"Are you happy here?" I asked quietly.

Didyme's smile lowered. She gave me a knowing look after a few seconds of silence. "Perhaps a little. But, I have my ways of coping. Besides, I feel it's best I keep my brother and sister-in-law in check. Someone has to." She rolled her eyes. "Now, would you do me the honor of hunting with me?"

"Sure, I guess," I said. "Um. Could we…"

"Don't worry, dear," Didyme said. "We'll be careful with whom we choose to feed from, and we'll do it out of the way from the city. You have my word."

I wondered if Didyme had gone out of her way to push me into leaving. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed likely. I didn't know why, of course, since my gift was pretty nifty for the Volturi - a mental shield that could block out mental abilities. It was the reason Aro and Sulpicia wanted me turned when I was a human, because it apparently manifested enough that it caught their eyes. Lucky me, I guess.

I'd find out soon enough if Didyme's strange offer was a genuine one, though.

It didn't take long, even moving at a more easy pace, to get to my house. It was still where I remembered it, further away from most other houses since Charlie and Renee had preferred living near nature. I found myself standing in front of it soon, and for a long moment, I just… looked at it.

Twenty years of no one living there - I could confirm no one was living there by the fact there were no new scents around it, no tire tracks from vehicles, and it looked untouched for the most part - hadn't done it a whole lot of favors. Yet when I really studied the roof, the door, the windows, I did find that it wasn't as dusty or dirty as I expected it to be. Everything looked maybe not pristine, but, close to it, and when I moved closer, I could smell very faint hints of things like Windex.

"Guess Didyme wasn't lying," I said to myself. I reached out to brush my fingers against the window, and when I checked my hand, I saw that there was little dust on them.

I didn't know why it surprised me. But, it did, although I only ended up shrugging it off.

The key was still where I remembered it being - under a fake rock surrounded by real rocks, hidden behind a pot that once held several roses that had long since withered. I picked the fake rock up, retrieved the key, then blurred over to the door - it was a few seconds now that I could move so quickly, one of the few things I honestly did enjoy about being a vampire now. Once I unlocked the door, I slid the key into my jean pocket and pushed my way inside.

It hit me the second I was inside - the familiarity of the surroundings, the old smells I still remembered from when I was a human, and with them, the emptiness.

My chest felt heavy. My stomach knotted.

It felt both like the warm home it used to be, and at the same time, a cold tomb. The inside was dustier, with some cobwebs spread about, and the remnants of what could've been mice living somewhere inside plainly obvious. For a few minutes, I stood there, looking around, taking in the sights that felt so foreign to me even though I'd spent twenty-one years living here. I could still picture my parents' voices, still see them doing their usual routines, see myself helping my father cook or helping my mother in our garden out back.

My eyes felt moist. I wiped the tears away, then shut the door behind me. I'd spent long enough mourning their deaths. But then, I was sure I'd be spending more doing that, because there was no way I wouldn't now that I was living here. I only hoped more time would help me get over the pain - I doubted it, though. Pain like this, it didn't seem like it was going to go away anytime soon. Maybe in a hundred years…

I almost laughed. A hundred years. Now I could actually say that and mean it.

I locked the door behind me - an impulse, even though as a vampire, I didn't have to be quite as worried about intruders - and then began to ponder what I wanted to do with myself. I had several things in order already now that I was here - even after ten years of being away from the Volturi, Didyme kept in touch with me, showing she cared more than I ever thought or expected she would. She'd helped me get myself some money and helped me set things up for Forks.

I wondered if Aro and Sulpicia knew she was helping me. I wasn't sure - Didyme was good at keeping herself busy to avoid having to deal with them unless she needed to, but, Aro was curious, and Sulpicia was… well, I knew she wasn't entirely happy about my leaving. None of them were. But that was ten years ago, and I had no desire to return. I hoped they wouldn't find me anytime soon. I really didn't want to deal with them…

But I shrugged this away for now. Instead, I figured the least I could do is clean the place up. So, I did just that - using my vampire speed and reflexes made it easy to run through the house, cleaning everything. Dust, cobwebs, spiders - everything. I left nothing untouched, and even though I wound up a dirty, dusty mess by the time I was finished, at least the house was presentable on the inside. Charlie and Renee would've been happy, I was sure of that much.

Dusting myself off was a simple matter, but, I was eager to check to see if the shower still worked. I sped upstairs, again stopping when I reached my room. I didn't dare look at Charlie and Renee's room - I pushed the door open and stepped into what was and still was my space. It looked the same. Same blue walls, same band posters and random anime stuff, same Funko Pop collection, same bed…

I smiled a little. It was nice to be home, to be back where I felt I belonged, even though it was going to take a while to adjust to being alone. I had planned to move out before our trip to Italy. I guessed I didn't need to anymore.

With a sigh - I realized I was doing this a lot, and doing a lot of pushing my thoughts away, but since I was alone, it didn't bother me, at least for the moment - I undressed and went into my bathroom, then turned the faucet on. Water came out, and while my skin was naturally cooler now, I could still feel the subtle temperature differences enough to know the water did indeed get hotter and colder. So, I went ahead and took a nice shower to clean myself.

When I was finished, I got dressed again, only to pause when I had to remind myself I didn't exactly have anything to do. No homework for school. No groceries that needed buying or dinner that needed cooking, or any meal, for that matter. I had no friends anymore to hang out with, human or vampire. No parents to talk to or spend time with.

What the hell was there for me?

My memories sifted back in time to a day at Volterra.

"So where did you come from?" Jane had asked me.

I set down one of the books I'd picked up - the Volturi had a massive library, and this one was some sort of swashbuckling adventure tale - and turned my gaze to her. "I was born in Washington, in a small town called Forks. It's drizzly a good chunk of the time, but, a good enough place. Very quaint and sort of out of the way from big cities. Not a whole lot of interesting stuff, I guess, but, I always loved it."

She nodded slowly. "You miss it."

"Of course," I whispered. "How could I not?"

"Alec and I came from Salem," Jane said. "During the Witch Trial period, unfortunately. That's sort of why we wound up getting turned." She shrugged. "Time was different then. I look at the modern world, at how humans have changed. Well. Sort of changed." Her nose wrinkled. "Many are just as idiotic and bigoted as they were when I was human."

"A lot of people suck," I said. I'd had my experience with bullies or rude jackholes growing up, but those were few and far between. "But there are plenty of good people in the world. I knew a lot. My parents. I had friends, too, that were really cool. Good teachers, and so on…"

"I'm sorry," Jane said softly.

Silence fell between us.

Jane broke it moments later. "What did you do for fun in this small town?"

"Not a whole lot, I guess," I said, not really looking at her. "They had a theater. Bookstores and other stores to browse. Most of the fun things to do were in towns around us, but… It still had its charm." I smiled. "I could tell you, if you want."

Thinking back to that moment, and being here now, I realized most of the activities were fun and made sense… when I was human. Now, as a vampire, what exactly did that leave me to do for myself, especially when I was all alone?

"Huh. I hadn't really thought of that," I said, as if I were speaking to someone else.

I frowned, glancing at my window, as if that would somehow give me an idea. Being a vampire, I didn't have to worry about some of the things normal humans did - I needed rest like them, but this was more of a meditative state than anything, and this was only when I was genuinely tired, and since I'd rested a few days ago, I hadn't reached that point yet. So, I was stuck by myself, with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

"I could explore the town," I murmured to myself. I hadn't seen Forks in twenty years either, so… "I don't know, Bella, what would you like to do? Besides talk to yourself, alone in your room that hasn't been touched in years and years?" I rolled my eyes, if only because I could find humor in what was both somewhat normal and somewhat crazy. "Town's the only thing, besides a hike through nature. Could do both, I guess."

It was an idea, at least. And it gave me a way to entertain myself. I decided I would go into town first, until I got bored with that or something else interesting caught my attention.

With little else to really do beyond continue to stand around like an idiot talking to myself, I got dressed and then left my room, casually made my way downstairs, then locked up and exited the house. I stuffed the key into my pocket - while I sincerely doubted anyone would try to break into my home, I was still cautious. I had only just gotten back to it, after all, so the last thing I wanted was to act as if it wasn't possible for someone to try and burglarize it.

Not that they would get far. Though I hated killing humans, I wasn't against other, lighter measures to get my point across. Unless the person who broke in was another vampire…

As I began heading into the forest on foot, my mind wandered a little. I had no vehicle of my own, unfortunately, but I did have a license. I would have to see about getting a new car or something, if only for the moments where I needed to venture into town or away from town for something. I loved the freedom of running and feeling the wind in my hair, but for practical purposes, owning a vehicle was smart, even if it was something simple like a Beetle or a Prius.

I snorted a little. I actually HAD a Prius once, my vehicle not by choice but because it was cheap and affordable. It broke down a few months before the trip to Italy. I planned on saving up to get something new for myself - new in the sense of a new vehicle to drive, not some new, overly fancy, super priced car - but that never happened.

But then, my thoughts wandered from the subject of cars to something more important: other vampires. I was somewhat aware that there was a chance there were other vampires in the area. I didn't know for certain - Aro and Sulpicia had mentioned in passing something about a 'strange' coven that lived in Washington. But, I'd never pressed, in part because I never really had the time for it.

I hoped that if there was a coven, they'd moved. I didn't feel like dealing with conflict unless it was direly needed. Fighting was something I'd learned during my ten years with the Volturi, but, it didn't mean I liked it one little bit.

"I don't see why you don't like combat," Heidi said to me one time, after a training session. She came over to me and looked at me quizzically. "Surely it isn't because you feel you're inadequate at it? If that's the case, I've seen worse, Bella. Newborns turned by random vampires tend to have no finesse or understanding. They think just punching or kicking is enough to count as a method of fighting. It isn't, and they tend to… well, lose."

I ran a hand through my hair. "I don't like fighting, Heidi. I've never been a fighter. Watching action movies and MMA fights was one thing, but getting into an actual fist fight? I did it, like, twice in my life, and I lost both times. It's not in me to fight."

"Even with all the superhuman abilities you've been blessed with?" Heidi asked, arching a fine eyebrow.

I scowled. "I'd rather use those for FUN, not for fighting to the death, thank you."

"How strange," Heidi said. "Is this some sort of modern day thing? When I was a human, life or death was a common practice. It makes sense to know how to fight when it means being able to defend yourself from harm."

"Is every other vampire that psychotic that they'd want to kill me for existing?" I asked.

She paused and seemed to ponder this. "I suppose not, no. But I do think it's wise to sharpen your skills. You don't have to kill, if you don't want to, I guess." She shrugged, then smirked at me. "But, you know, we don't need to think about combat. There's other ways we could pass the time…"

I bit my lip. "You don't… you don't mean…"

"I liked fucking you the other night," Heidi said, her lips curling into a devilish smirk. "I'd enjoy to do it again." She winked and stroked my arm. "If you want."

She vanished in a blur, and I remembered watching and thinking it over…

I sighed and picked my speed up to a semi-slow burst. Moving as a vampire was like moving as a blur - it had its benefits, of course, but it also had its downsides, like getting complete tunnel vision, and the fact sometimes it was harder to notice things BECAUSE of the tunnel vision. I liked to keep at a pace that was somewhere between what a human could feasibly run at and what I could run at top speed if I wanted - faster than a normal human could catch unless they were paying extra good attention, but slower than your normal vampire. It suited me just fine, since it let me keep my senses peeled while I still got the rush of excitement from moving fast.

Speed was honestly my favorite part about being a vampire. The ability to move like a blur was utterly exhilarating. I smiled to myself as I kept on forward, running around trees, jumping over rocks and shrubs. I felt superhuman, in a good way, and with no thirst to keep me hampered or fear of any danger, it made it all the better.

Even during my time with the Volturi, my speed was one of the things I got genuine compliments on.

"I'm sort of jealous," Heidi told me once. This was after a training session, when a few of us were standing around in a hallway, mostly just to relax - or I was, anyways, though I'd considered going to the library to spend some time alone. "You're insanely quick despite it not being your gift."

Heidi was standing next to me, appraising me with intent eyes. And we weren't alone, either. You never really were in Volterra, even when you thought you could be.

"Am I?" I had asked in response. And I meant it, too, I was really surprised to hear it. "I wasn't aware."

"Seriously," Heidi said. "I mean, you're not THE fastest vampire around, but, seeing you move…"

"It's impressive," Felix, another of the guards, added. He was close by, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall, like he often did. It was sort of like he posed - he liked to pose to show off his impressive, big physique, in a way that it looked like he really thought he was hot stuff. He grinned at me, a flirty grin, I guessed, but I had little interest in him in that way. "I wonder if you're quick in… other ways." He wiggled his eyebrows at this.

Heidi growled. "Felix. Behave."

"What? I'm only curious."

I ran a hand through my hair, fidgeting somewhat. I wasn't used to this much attention, and I had no clue how to deal with it when we were all superhuman creatures with super powers. Were there rules about this? Did anyone really care?

Felix sighed. "Look, my flirting aside, I do mean it. And when the hell did you start getting so possessive of the newbie, Heidi? Don't act like you claimed her as yours or anything." He snorted. "That's kind of ridiculous of you."

"I'm not," Heidi said. "I'm keeping my eyes on the new blood to make sure dumbass brutes like YOU don't try to take advantage of her."

"As if I would do that," Felix said, looking offended.

I didn't say a word to that, although I gave him a pointed stare. Felix had flirted with me before, and I told him, with words, that I wasn't interested. Either he didn't give up easily, or he was only doing it to get a rise out of Heidi. That was likely, I guess, but, I wasn't about to speak on it unless I really had to. Which I might've needed to…

"Quick vampires tend to be the most dangerous," Demetri added - he was looming about, but he was reading rather than standing near me like Felix and Heidi.

Demetri was… an odd one, in my mind. He didn't say much usually, not to me at least, but I knew full well he wasn't to be messed with. He was a tracker - the best tracker of the Volturi, barring another vampire named James with equally good tracking abilities. But to my knowledge, neither of their abilities worked on me. Demetri's didn't, anyways…

"My point is, it's a good thing," Heidi said, smirking at me. "Keep honing it. It'll be a valuable skill."

"Oh, sure," I said.

How right she wound up being in the end.

I kept at the pace for a while, dashing past trees, moving across a road when there were no cars, and so on, until I got closer to town. I slowed myself down to a human pace once I got to a point where I knew I couldn't realistically be a blur anymore - I didn't want to freak anyone out by popping out of nowhere on a busy street, after all.

Town was filled with people today - many were out and about, biking, skateboarding, or just walking. It was a nice day, so I could see why. It was kind of pleasant to see so many people, although I dearly hoped I wouldn't see any… familiar faces. That was why, when I'd gotten dressed, I opted for a beanie to cover my head, sunglasses, and a baggy, but also comfy, hoodie. Couldn't be too careful.

I began strolling around, smiling at anyone who caught sight of me, but otherwise, keeping to myself. Being a vampire, I was oddly aware of the fact I kind of stood out among the humans, yet most people wouldn't bat an eye at me normally unless I actively 'wanted' them to. Something about being a vampire made it easy for me to blend in - the 'gifts of the ultimate predator,' or some crap, Aro had said once.

I shuddered at thinking about that. I didn't like thinking of myself like… that.

I spotted a bookstore, one I recognized from when I was still a human living here, and with a little spark of interest, I headed toward it automatically. It was a decently large one, an old Mom and Pop style place that managed to keep in business even with bigger bookstores popping up in nearby towns. And when I entered, I was greeted by the same musty book mixed in with new book smells that I remembered so well.

I breathed in quietly, just soaking in the familiar scents. As I did, I counted the seconds, once more like the ticking of a clock. One, two, three, four, five, six…

"Hello and welcome," a voice said from behind the counter. Right at the end of the 'ten' in my head. Fitting enough.

I turned and caught sight of the woman standing there - she wasn't a face I recognized, so I felt a little less anxious being in here. Her name tag read Angela, which I made a mental note of just in case.

"Hi there," I said.

"Need any help finding anything?" Angela asked.

"No, not at the moment, thank you," I replied.

With a nod, she went back to eyeballing her cell phone, and I noted to myself that was another thing I'd need to get. Every twenty-one year old had a cell phone, after all.

She was cute, though. Tall, with long dark hair that fell past her shoulders, and brown eyes - her skin was a light olive tone, and her features made me think maybe she had some Hispanic in her, perhaps a little Asian. Either way, very pretty. Part of me was, admittedly, curious, but, I opted not to make things too awkward on my first day back in Forks.

'Not that I'd have too much of a problem flirting… if I wanted,' I thought.

Romance was a weird thing for me, when I stopped to consider it. Before that fateful trip to Italy, I had mostly been single for my early teenage years. I had one or two 'boyfriends' during that time, usually just crushes who I went to a dance or something, but those never really evolved into anything serious. My first 'actual' relationship came about when I was in high school, around my sophomore year - that was when I dated a girl for the first time, and it was… wonderful.

If I had to be honest, if there was one thing of good that came from my time with the Volturi, it was that I was allowed to… experiment more frequently. The Volturi Guard was vast in size, and while there were some mated pairs - even a triad or two - most of them were single, many of whom would 'play' with one another. I wound up sticking mostly to women, save for a brief moment with Alec, Jane's brother. Jane herself was the first person I spent romantic time with. Then there was Heidi…

I sighed and shoved the thoughts away. None of that mattered now. I doubted they saw me as a friend or anything else - I was a tool, or a toy. Nothing more.

I kept my shades on and began slowly walking through the bookstore. I figured I could just strut around, mostly to enjoy the cozy, quaint atmosphere, and then I would eventually start looking at - and maybe even reading - some of the books. The hours up front said the place was open late, which suited me just fine. It wasn't like I had anywhere else I could or needed to go anytime soon, so…

Yet as I began to wander around, a few minutes in, really, the front door opened, and I stopped. I was behind a row of books toward the back of the store, yet right away, my nostrils flared. The smell of whomever had entered was not the smell of a human.

"Hello and welcome," Angela said.

I froze, hovering near the back of the row of books. I didn't dare move, not even to see what the new person looked like. But their scent told me they were a vampire - I knew straight away from my years with the Volturi what vampires smelled like to other vampires. The scent was lighter, sweeter, but that meant little.

"Thank you," came the response. Female. "How are you today, Angela?"

"Eh, same ol', same ol'," Angela said. "Term papers are kicking my ass, but I'm hanging in there the best that I can. Sorry if I seem rude for being so focused on my phone - been getting a lot of messages on Facebook for stuff I'm trying to sell. Preparing to move to Seattle soon. Anyways. Let me know if you need any help finding something."

"Of course."

Inside, I was panicking. It didn't matter that this was a public place with another human - one vampire wasn't something I wanted to deal with, let alone something I was prepared to deal with. I grimaced and remained where I was, keeping my senses focused only on the one vampire.

She began moving, her footsteps light and almost musical-sounding, but rather than make a beeline for where I was - there was no way she couldn't know I was here, no, her senses would tell her - she went a different direction entirely.

I waited, refusing to move until I knew she was far enough from me that I could leave the bookstore without problem. She kept walking, and, once I was certain there was enough of a gap between where we were, I slid back the way I'd come. My chest felt tense as I crept along the row of books, keeping my eyes forward, but my nose and ears on high alert. I didn't smell her, or hear any movement, but even so…

I stopped when I hit the end of the bookshelf and peered over the corner. I didn't see the vampire, nor did I hear her. I could smell her scent, still, mixed with some kind of perfume. The human, Angela, was still behind the desk, checking out her phone, texting maybe. She seemed unaware, which was fine by me.

'Okay, take it easy and be casual,' I thought. 'Just go out the door and book it. Simple.'

I was about to move when I heard something - a whish of movement above, then behind me. I could barely react in time when I felt a presence, followed by the smell of the vampire, followed then by her voice.

"Leaving so soon?"

I froze again. 'Damn it. Damn it, damn it…'

There was a very long pause. If I had a beating heart, I was certain it would've been pounding to try and break free from my chest at this point. I didn't dare move, lest the vampire decide to just rip my head off right then and there. Ten years of combat experience wasn't enough in my mind, and even with my gift…

"You don't need to be so tense," the other vampire said. Her voice was… soft, with a certain husky quality to it. "I'm not going to hurt you."

I didn't exactly trust that - I'd heard it enough times before, and with other vampires…

"Please," she said. "Turn around. I promise, I'm not your enemy."

I gritted my teeth. "How do I know you won't kill me the second I lower my guard?"

"In a bookstore?" She sounded somewhat amused. "Come on, now. If I wanted to kill you, I'd have dragged you through the back door and been done with it. We both know we can be quiet enough when we care to, although I suppose it's equally true we could be loud and draw an immense amount of attention to us. I'd rather not do that, though."

"How do I know you won't do that anyways?" I asked quietly.

She sighed. "Look, just… I don't know what I can say exactly that will ease you, but, I mean what I say." She paused and I heard her shift her weight a little. "Granted, I suppose I'm cheating a bit. I kind of know what's going to happen, so…"

I frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Another pause. "Aro and Sulpicia never mentioned me? I'm surprised."

I whirled around. "How do you…?"

I stopped when I actually got a look at her - I hadn't exactly thought of what she may look like, but putting the voice to the face was… different.

She was my height, for starters, maybe a tiny bit taller than me - I was 5'5, not super tall, but close to normal, I guess - but she was definitely more toned than I was. Her athletic, muscular build was clear from the sleeveless tanktop she wore, which showed off her very impressive biceps, and the rest of her wardrobe hugged her figure perfectly. She had short, pixie-length black hair, spikes jutting out all over the place. And her skin was pale, much like mine, though maybe even paler.

But what stopped me dead in my tracks were her eyes - golden. Like mine.

She smiled an easy-going smile and pointed to her eyes. "Does that help?"

"I… You…" I wasn't sure how to react, for some reason. I needed a moment to process all this.

"You don't need to be afraid of me," she said again. "I won't hurt you, like I said. I have no reason to." She smiled wider. "It helps that you're like me, you know."

I slowly removed my sunglasses, knowing my eyes were the same shade of gold as hers. Well, close enough, that is - her eyes were a vibrant color, almost butterscotch, even though using the term sounded a little cliche. Still. They were… admittedly gorgeous.

"My name is Alice," she said, extending her hand out to me. "Alice Cullen."

I hesitated, then reached out to shake her hand. "Bella."

Her grip was firm, yet, gentle enough. It wasn't threatening at all.

"Bella…?" She arched an eyebrow as she let my hand go.

I stared at her still. My head was spinning a bit because never had I anticipated this - meeting a vampire in Forks was enough of a shock, even though I'd been semi-warned about it - but seeing one that was, like me, a vampire that survived off of animal blood instead of human blood…

"Er, uh. Swan."

Alice's smile turned playful. "Bella Swan? Beautiful Swan?" She giggled. "Wow, your parents must've had fun with that one. That's kind of cute, actually." She grinned wider. "In fact, you're pretty stinking cute yourself, if I do say so."

I had no clue how to respond. Were this Volterra, I would've been coy as a habit, and were I human, I'd be blushing a deep crimson at the compliment and the look in her eyes.

She was silent then, biting her bottom lip. "Sorry. I, uh, didn't mean to be rude." She rubbed the back of her neck. "This is kind of awkward for me, but, I'm sure it's ten times more awkward for you. I admit, I kind of dithered on how I wanted to go about this when I saw you coming to Forks. This seemed like the most… natural option when I took into consideration how you would end up reacting. It's not perfect, I know. And I'm probably confusing you more, judging by the look in your eyes."

"I'm kind of at a loss," I said softly. "My big vampire brain doesn't know how to react…"

Alice sighed. "Let's relocate, and I can explain a little better."

I stared at her, again hesitant. But, she didn't give off the vibe that she would hurt - or kill me - the moment I followed her, so, with a little nod, we exited the bookstore. When we got outside, Alice nodded for me to keep following, and so we wound up just sort of strolling about together, as if we were the best of friends.

"I have the ability to see the future," Alice said, like she were talking about the weather. She shrugged. "I sort of assumed you would know that, or have some inkling that one of the Cullens in Washington possessed such a gift. I'm surprised no one said it to you before."

I stared at her again, longer this time, as I processed this.

I was vaguely - very vaguely - aware of hearing something like that mentioned once or twice, but always in passing. My time with the Volturi for those ten years was a bit jumbled, if I were honest, so it made it hard to actively pull back the specific memories. Either way, I didn't recall any names mentioned, although 'Cullen' did ring a bell.

"So… you can see any future?" I asked, finally finding my voice.

She nodded. "To a degree, at least. The future is sort of… subjective. I can see what COULD happen in any given scenario." She paused and tapped her chin while walking. "Think of it like a big-ass spider web. At the center of the web is the basic thing I'm looking up, like if it's gonna rain. From there, it spreads out, with mutliple options - the more I concentrate, the more the web shrinks down to the likelier scenarios. Even then, though, it's hardly set in stone in most cases. Sometimes, the future will change. Usually, I can catch it, but there are moments when I get surprised, like with you, for example."

"Did… did you see me coming?"

"Yes," she said. Another smile.

"And you're telling me this why?" I asked.

She paused, stopping near an alleyway, and I stopped as well. She waited for several people to pass us by before she nodded for me to come in there with her. I sighed internally and followed until we were hidden from public view.

"Because you're a stranger who happened to wander into our territory," Alice said. "Normally, we try to be diplomatic with vampires or covens who come here. In the past, we've had mostly good fortune with other vampires - only twice did we need to fight them because they didn't want to play nice. With you, it's the same, but… you being a vegetarian vampire certainly makes this different."

I blinked a few times. "Vegetarian?"

Alice chortled. "Sorry. It's a bit of an in-joke in my family. It's not funny, I know, but we use it to play around, mostly, 'cuz we feed off animal blood only. Like you do."

"Oh." I bit my lip. "How many of you are there in this coven of yours?"

"There are nine of us right now," Alice said. "We have a sort of… extended family, you could say, living in Alaska - they have eight members right now. We've got one extra, which happens to be yours truly." She giggled. "Would you like to meet them?"

"Wh-what?" I stared at her. "Um. N-no, thank you. Not really."

Alice arched an eyebrow. "Ah, okay. You'd rather keep to yourself, I see." Her lips twitched. "I'm… sorry to say that may be an issue. My coven knows about you already. They've all sort of known about you, and that you would be showing up today."

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. "O-oh."

"Sorry," Alice said. "I'm kind of the alert system for my coven. I tell them about any and all potential threats and visits and anything else that might be remotely interesting or entertaining. But don't worry." She held her hands up, smiling softly. "My parents are keen on meeting you to see what you're like, but you being like us has made it a lot less tense than normal. My siblings… they're kind of on the fence about you, though."

"...great," I muttered.

"It'll be fine," Alice said. "You can trust me on that."

I stared at her. "You want me to trust someone I've never met before who can see the future and looks like she worked out a lot as a human?"

Alice blinked and eyed me for a moment. Then, she grinned. "Were you checking me out, Miss Swan?"

My eyes widened. "Wh-what? No! I… It's obvious!"

She giggled again. "I'm teasing. I know you aren't going to trust me, and I don't expect you to." She stepped forward, until she was right in front of me. Her eyes were warm and gentle, her expression just as tender. "But believe me when I say that I've seen enough of the future to know that you and me… we're gonna be friends, Bella. You won't be alone for long, I promise."

Her words - but especially the tone of her voice - took my breath away. I had no idea how to respond to her whatsoever.

"Now then," Alice said. "I actually do have some errands to run in town. You're welcome to join me, if you want to keep chatting, but I can sort of tell you'd prefer not to - I don't have to look into the future to tell the obvious." She winked. "And that's cool. As a warning, we'll be stopping by tonight at your place to 'meet' you. Please know we mean you no harm. Esme and Carlisle would never lift a finger to someone who wasn't an enemy."

I grimaced. "And your siblings?"

"They'll be wary, but, they won't be hostile," Alice said. "You have my word."

I wasn't entirely sure her word would be worth all that much in the grander scheme of things - I mean, even if she didn't kill humans for blood, that didn't make her or her coven any less dangerous. And if there were nine of them? Nine against just me, the vampire who was barely twenty years old and hated to fight? Yeah, it wasn't going to end well for me. Not like I could shield them to death - my shield was mental, not physical…

Alice's eyes stayed gentle. "Please, all I ask is for a chance. That's it. You have my word, for what it may be worth to you, that if you feel unsafe or threatened, we'll leave you alone. I promise."

"Just like that?" I asked. "You won't kill me or chase me out?"

"This is your home, same as ours," Alice said.

I groaned inwardly. "Okay, fine, fine." I looked away from her. "What time am I going to be seeing all of you so I can mentally prepare?"

She was silent for a moment, and when I turned back to her, she looked like she was zoning out. When she came to, she smiled again. "Seven o'clock, on the nose. Is that a fitting time?"

"I guess," I said.

"Excellent," Alice said. "Then I will see you tonight." She beamed. "It was nice to meet you, Bella. Take care."

"Er, sure," I said.

And then she brushed past me with ease, going right back toward the bookstore. I watched her go, and for a few moments, I stood there, unsure of what to do. She'd just gone back to her business like we'd had a pleasant chat about the weather, but I knew deep down there was a whole lot more to it. I had no clue what to do now - I had to expect guests, that much I knew, but would they really be as kind as she seemed?

I had no freaking clue. And that terrified me to no end.

'I could run, maybe,' I thought. 'But where can I go? Nowhere. The Volturi…' I was still scared about them tracking me down, so, I couldn't venture too far just in case. 'Damn it.'

Yet I knew standing around like an idiot in an alleyway wasn't going to do me a whole lot of good. And I had plenty of time to kill before tonight came. So, without much else on my plate, I guessed the only choice I had was to… keep doing what I'd come to town for in the first place.

I left the alleyway and bypassed the bookstore - I could swing back around later if I wanted to, but, right now, I didn't want to take any chances. This Alice Cullen acted friendly enough, but I couldn't trust her yet, not fully.

All I knew for sure was that it was going to be a very long day. And an even longer night.

 **A/N: Hey... So, uh. Hi everyone! Long time no see. I'm not dead!  
**

 **Life has been... interesting for me. I have graduated from the university I was studying at for three years, and now I'm home, floating about in some weird miasma of stagnant uncertainty and struggles. Huzzah! But in all seriousness, I've been focusing a lot on writing, especially in the commission department. That is where this piece comes from - some time ago, I was approached by a fan of my work, apdarkness905, saw that I was open for commissions and asked if I was open to doing something based on my old, old, old, OLD Twilight work. I accepted, and I've done several for him. Of those, this is the most recent, and it's also the one I think is my strongest compared to the others. So, I thought I would post it, my first post in ages.**

 **Writing is still my biggest passion in life, and I'm still working on that novel I've mentioned. It's had a few ups and downs, as you would expect, and a healthy dose of depression and real life troubles (uncle passed away, sister had a cancer scare, my dog has heart troubles, and so on), so I've basically been trying to grapple a lot of things at the same time while ALSO looking for a 'real' job. But, I'm still writing when I can, and I am proud of what I do, even when it is flawed and far from perfect (as all writing will always be, I guess).**

 **At any rate, thank you to anyone who reads this. I don't expect reviews, so please don't feel obligated to do so. If you read this and you like my work, and you're someone who has an idea for a story you'd like to see, message me, and we can talk. I'm open for commissions over on DeviantArt (still Hollowgo over there), and I always welcome the challenge. Until then, take care, stay strong, and have a pleasant day/night! :D**

 **~ Hollow Pages (or just Hollow)**


	2. Part Two

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing. The only 'original' character is a spin on a character that technically came to exist already.**

 **Missing Pieces - Part Two**

I was pretty sure that if I were a human, I would be terrified out of my damned mind. My palms would be twitching, I'd be sweating like crazy, my heart would be thudding like a high speed bongo drum, and I would be pacing around, panicking as if the world was about to end, because, well, it kind of could if I didn't play this right. Or it might end anyways just because that was how fate was, or something.

But even though I wasn't human anymore, I was still panicking, just not quite as openly as I would've otherwise. My heart didn't beat anymore, so I had no way of sweating or struggling with breathing or anything like that. In a sick way, maybe I was better off? I didn't know - I kind of wished I was human because at least then I would feel familiar sensations and not just feel like a stinking statue.

I sighed and held my face in my hands.

I was back at my house now, sitting on the bottom of the stairs, alone. I'd been here for several hours now, mostly because once I'd gotten my fill of downtown, I came back to the house and just sort of forced myself to stay there, beyond stopping to hunt for a brief moment - I was thankful a deer had wandered close enough that I didn't need to go far. I was too antsy, too scared, of what would happen if I did.

My guests would be here soon. Very, very soon.

The vampire I met in town, Alice, said they'd be there close to seven. I probably should've remembered - I mean, I was a vampire, that had to mean I should remember things like this without any trouble, right? - but my mind was so hazy and filled to the brim with different thoughts, it was hard to focus long enough to recall the exact words she'd used.

But I knew from glancing at my wall clock that it was five minutes until seven. And then, I would be faced with a full coven of vampires I knew nothing about. Sure, Alice had golden eyes like me, which meant she survived off animal blood instead of human. But so what? That didn't mean a thing in the grander scheme - they could've been as ruthless as any other vampire, or worse, for all I knew. And since I didn't know many vampires beyond the Volturi…

Granted, when I thought about the Volturi and my time with them, my ten years there hadn't taught me very much about the world at large. I rarely left Volterra, and whenever I did, it was brief, and I was always with someone else. Otherwise, I stayed there, inside, with the other Volturi members. It was almost like being in a prison, it just happened to be a massive, fancy prison with no cages or bars.

They made it seem like secrecy was the most important thing in this world - in our world, I guess I had to say and think, since I was a vampire. It was strange to me then and it was strange to me now, to the point where I questioned whether I would be able to adjust to being on my own. Maybe that was why the Volturi stuck together. Maybe leaving was the worst decision I'd made. I wasn't sure anymore.

'This is so… confusing,' I thought. And I was all by myself in this. I had no one to help me.

I let my hands fall to my sides and began to drum them on the steps. That did little to help, so I stopped after a few seconds and just listened to the closest clock. The ticking noise… I let it wash over me, listening and counting in my head.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten…

I did this several times and steadied myself to the best of my abilities. Vampires didn't need to breathe, true, but to my knowledge, all vampires did regardless. I was doing it, and my breathing was hitched from the emotions swirling in the pit of my stomach. I had no idea how this would end for me. This could very well be my last night alive - these vampires would kill me, burn my house down, and that would be it. The end of me, the end of my family for good.

Maybe it was fitting…

I sighed and tried not to dwell on the 'maybes' or the 'what ifs,' as impossible as that seemed. Besides, when I glanced back at the clock, I realized that it was seven now.

There was a knock at the door. My insides felt like they'd turned into solid ice. I needed a few seconds to actively force myself to stand and, without even wanting to, without even thinking, I strode to the door at a human pace and reached for the door knob. My fingers twitched. My throat felt tight. I counted in my head again, ten more ticks from the clock, before I opened the door. I kind of forgot until the last second that I probably didn't look welcoming in the least bit.

'Damn it…'

At once, I was greeted by nine vampires, just as Alice had said - she was among them, standing close to the front of the group, her expression at ease and her smile friendly, as it had been when we met in town. I did not recognize the others, and I couldn't make myself do a quick sweep of all of them to note their features. My brain did not want to work properly to do that - all I was able to note was that there were five women and four men.

"See? I told you all she'd be here," Alice said plainly. "Never bet against me, seriously."

I blinked a few times, but she glanced around at the others. I caught an eye roll or two, and heard a snort from someone - otherwise, nothing. Not a sound.

At least until a throat cleared.

I snapped to attention - the throat had been cleared by the woman who stood the most in front of the group, who also looked the oldest physically alongside the man next to her. In fact, when I actually took the time to take in their features, they seemed like they were in their late thirties, or maybe early forties, somewhere in that area. It reminded me of Aro and Sulpicia - of all the Heads, in fact, who looked close to those ages.

The woman was what I imagined to be the Matriarch of the coven. She was tall, with long, caramel-brown hair that fell past her shoulders in waves. Her skin was fair instead of pale like mine, and her face was heart-shaped. Her eyes were gold, and quite warm when I looked into them, sort of… motherly, I guess the best word would be. The man beside her was pretty much the same height, with the same fair skin and same warm eyes, the only difference being his hair - his was short and blond, very neat and businessy in style.

The woman spoke first. "Good evening, dear. My name is Esme."

"And I am Carlisle," the man said. He offered a small smile. "I can't imagine how… strange this must be for you. I'm sorry there wasn't a simpler way, but, we believe it was better to meet you as a whole and get any sort of tension or discomfort out of the way quickly."

"Rip the bandage off at once, that sort of mentality," Esme continued, nodding as she spoke. "At any rate, may we come in, dear? We intend no harm, if that's what you're worried about, I assure you."

"Like I said before," Alice said. Her smile hadn't faltered. "There's no reason to be nervous or afraid. We're only here to meet you and have a friendly chat. Nothing more, nothing less, you have my word on that. Besides, it's been a long time since we've had a decent guest to talk to. That makes things more interesting, I feel."

"Alice, relax, dear," Carlisle said.

"Sorry, sorry," Alice said. "Got too excited." She took in a quick breath, then released it. "Okay, I'm calm. Promise. Hi again, by the way, Bella. Can we come in?"

I resisted the urge to run into my room and hide - couldn't very well do that now, could I? - and nodded. "Y-yeah, sure. Come in."

I moved aside, and they all blurred into the house. The last one in shut the door behind them, and then they were all there, nine vampires standing around me, in my house. I had no clue how to proceed with any of this - I'd never really prepared for this kind of thing when I was with the Volturi. Never thought about it, never been told about it, never… well, I was at a loss, and that was the gist of it.

"Ah, such a lovely house," Esme said. "Still looks as good as it did when we were last here."

"Indeed," Carlisle said.

I blinked a few times. "You've been here before?"

"You don't remember us?" Esme asked. She chuckled. "I suppose you wouldn't, since the first time we paid your parents a visit, you were just a babe. An adorable little thing." She smiled. "You've grown quite a bit since we last saw you, Bella."

I stared. "You know me? You… you knew my parents?"

"Yes," Carlisle said. "Years ago, when we first moved to Forks, we befriended your parents. It was impossible not to since Charlie and Renee were both police officers, and the highest form of security in this town." He offered another gentle smile. "Esme and I both work at the hospital. We've been working there for a long time, in truth."

"About… thirty-five years, to be exact," Esme said. "We were quite fond of your parents. Both very strong, stubborn, yet good-hearted people. I am truly sorry for your loss."

Silence fell. I was baffled, confused, and more than anything, genuinely surprised.

I couldn't remember for the life of me ever seeing either of them before, but, then my memories of my earliest human days were blurry. Twenty years of being a vampire, some of which I'd mostly done what I could to forget everything that happened, made it a little hard. Still, this was a lot to take in, even more so since I was still surrounded by nine strangers who were likely stronger than I was - they were all bigger than me, that was obvious, even Alice despite being close to my height.

"Perhaps we should sit down," one of the other vampires said - a male, with curly blond hair. He had his hands in his pockets. "Her emotional climate is all over the place, and I don't think us standing around is doing her any favors. We want this to go smooth, not to be tense."

"Agreed, Jasper," Carlisle said. "May we sit, Bella? We can explain things then."

"Oh, um." I grimaced and nodded toward the family room - I hadn't been in there besides the time I spent dusting. I was too nervous to actually go in there and linger. "Sure."

Rather than blur in there like I expected, all nine of them casually walked into my family room. I followed behind, and when I got there, I saw them sitting around in a circle. The only available spot was on the couch, next to Alice. Alice smiled and beckoned me over to her, patting the spot beside her.

I sat and, again, silence fell. I wound up counting the ticks of the clock again to try and calm down. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, one, two, three, four, five, six…

"Well, this is awkward as fuck," one of the other vampires said - a woman with long, curly red hair that fell to her shoulders. She looked a little like Merida from the movie Brave, but older and more… feline in the shape of her eyes and the angular qualities of her face, including higher, sharp cheekbones. Pretty, definitely, but dangerous at a glance. She checked her nails, then sighed. "I'm not sure all of us showing up at once was a good idea. Maybe we should've come in groups like they did in The Hobbit - less awkward, less tense, right?"

"It'll work out," Alice said. She turned to me, grinning. "Though I do think we ought to introduce ourselves in full, since we're all sort of the guests here."

"Ah, yes!" Esme said. "How rude." She scowled to herself. "I'm terribly sorry, we've forgotten our manners as a whole and that won't do. This isn't our home, dears. Please, introduce yourselves."

"She knows me," Alice said, her expression playful. "I'm kind of cool like that."

The redhead snorted. "You're a goddamned cheater is what you are, Alice. Don't be such a smartass. That's my area of expertise." She shook her head, then met my gaze. "I'm Victoria. Second oldest of the Cullen kids, and the best fighter of the whole group." She flexed her arms - she had VERY impressive muscle, which showed. "And I happen to be the strongest physically, too. Not to toot my own horn… too much."

I blinked a few times and nodded. I didn't need her to tell me she was the strongest, I could definitely see that. It made me wonder if she was stronger than or as strong as Felix from the Volturi - he was one of the strongest, a brute whose gift was strength, which fit his tall, imposing physique. I'd only seen him in action a few times before, and those few times were more than enough to get a sense of how powerful he had been.

Alice scoffed. "I dunno, Tori, I'm pretty close to you in physical strength…"

"Girls, please," Esme said with an air of mild exasperation. "Save the metaphorical pissing contest for home."

Alice and Victoria snickered. I still said nothing - I wasn't exactly sure what the hell I COULD even say at the moment.

"Do behave, Tori," said the woman beside Victoria, poking Victoria in the cheek. This woman had short, messy auburn hair that looked like she'd ran her hands through it a dozen times then forgot to comb it back afterwards, with thin eyebrows and more pointed features, namely in the chin and the nose. Willowy was a word I would use to describe her features, like Alice, in a way. She smiled at me, a crooked half smile of sorts. "My name's Elizabeth, Bella. Liz for short works just fine. I'm the mate of the firecrotch next to me - we've been married for forty-five years, and we were mates for ten years prior to that."

Victoria pecked her on the nose. "So hands off, got it?"

"Tori, hush," Elizabeth said. "You know better."

"I'm teasing," Victoria said. Her eyes flicked to me, and something flashed in them. "I'm aware our host isn't like that."

They shared a strange, almost knowing look, but I had no clue what it meant. Alice sighed beside me, but when I peeked at her, she was just glaring at the two of them.

"I'm Jasper, ma'am," the blond male who spoke earlier said, speaking in a very polite tone with a very subtle hint of a Southern drawl beneath his words. He bowed his head to me. "I appreciate you letting us come into your home like this so out of the blue. I hope you can come to believe we mean no harm. It's nice to meet someone who shares our views of preferring not to kill innocent humans. Wish more vampires were like that." He wrapped his arm around the blonde woman who sat next to him. "And this is my wife and mate…"

"Rosalie," the blonde woman said. Her hair was long and straight, shooting to her shoulders, maybe a tiny bit above them. She was super pretty by far, with features that made me think of supermodels on bikini magazines or high fashion magazines, with a full, toned figure not unlike Victoria and Alice. She was also noticeably tall, probably the tallest woman in the group, and I could tell that from seeing her next to Jasper. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but, we're here, so it's a moot point. Nice to meet you, awkwardness aside."

I nodded silently. I probably looked a little stupid, just sitting and not saying anything, but, at the very least, I was able to take the time to process all of this new information.

Esme and Carlisle. Victoria and Elizabeth. Rosalie and Jasper. That left only two, the other two guys.

Of the two of them, one sat alone and looked a lot like Elizabeth did, with the same messy, short auburn hair and the same angular facial features. He had his hands in his pockets and sat with a bit of a slouch, his expression the most… bored of the group, you could say. Yet his eyes were cold and hard, and as he scanned me, it was like he was assessing me for some reason. I wondered if he saw me as a threat - it looked that way, though he didn't say a word on this if that was the case.

"I'm Edward," he said simply. "Liz is my sister."

"Unfortunately," Elizabeth said, snickering.

Edward rolled his eyes.

"I'm his big sister," Elizabeth continued. "He might wish it were otherwise, but, life doesn't care much for his attitude. Don't let his sour nature get to you, he's just a wrinkled old grape to pretty much everyone. Part of his 'charm' or some shit, I'm sure." She shook her head. "You know there WAS a time when you smiled and acted more social, Edward. I wish you could go back to those days. I hate this gloomy persona you've taken on for yourself."

"It's not a persona," Edward said, sounding mildly offended. "I'm trying to take this seriously."

"Too seriously," Victoria said. "Quit brooding over that, fuck. There's no reason for it."

"Leave him to being a grouch," said the only other vampire in the room.

The other male also sat alone, but he sat closer to Esme and Carlisle. He seemed the most at ease besides the two of them and Alice - and he looked a lot like Rosalie, with the same straight blond hair, and similar features. The main differences were that his hair was shorter, reaching a little past his chin, and his features were rounder, less hard compared to Rosalie. He also didn't have the supermodel aesthetic that Rosalie practically oozed, I noticed - he seemed more average, though still nice looking.

"I'm Royal," he said. "Rosalie's brother. Before you ask, she's the older one of the two of us, and while I may not always like it, I try not to irk her TOO much about it." He winked.

I blinked a few times. "Two sets of siblings."

"Yup!" Royal said, flashing a playful smile. "Rose and me were turned around the same time together. We've been inseparable since we were kids, even though she likes to pretend I'm some horrible little brother that ruins her life by existing."

"Oh, fuck off," Rosalie said. "I have never ONCE said that, you shithead. If anything, you're the one who bitches because you've got ME for a sister."

"Only when you're a pain in the ass," Royal said.

Rosalie smirked. "Which is always. Hence the problem."

Jasper chuckled. "Guys, please. Save it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Rosalie said. She gave me a thoughtful look. "I would normally advise you to behave with my brother - I don't like when any random girl thinks she can flirt with him because he's straight and single. But, seeing that I know how things are going to go, I guess I don't need to tell you, or something." She glanced at Alice, then snorted and narrowed her eyes at me. "But I'm gonna do it anyways because that's my thing. So, if you decide you want to flirt with Royal, be smart about it. I always know what happens to my brother, and if you hurt him, you'll be in the ground before you can even think of escaping."

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. "Um. O-okay."

Royal pinched the bridge of his nose. "For God's sake, Rose…"

Alice growled beside me. "Rose."

"It hasn't happened yet," Rosalie said, looking at Alice. "So don't give me that growl, you." Her eyebrows wiggled. "Come on, it's ME you're dealing with. Surely, you can't be surprised that I would still act this way, even if I know the future?"

"Behave, please," Royal said. "It's a little too soon for that."

Alice groaned. "Ignore her, Bella. In fact, ignore all of them except me, then you should be good for the rest of the night."

There were a few chuckles and groans from the others. I was very, very lost right now.

"I'm kidding, of course," Alice said. "I may be vain, but I'm not THAT bad."

"I… uh. I really have no idea what to say," I said. "I didn't come to Forks expecting any of this." I turned my attention to Esme and Carlisle. "You both knew me? And you knew my parents?"

"Yes, we did," Carlisle said. "Again, you were very young when we first met you, probably close to five or six, maybe. We had moved into town around that time, all of us together, but to maintain a more… realistic image of a human family, our kids agreed to stay at home or, at the very least, utilize different identities when they went into town."

"We usually stayed away from the immediate area," Rosalie said. "Went to Oregon, went to California, and so on, until the time was right for us to 'come out' as it were."

"Why?" I asked. "I mean, why not just… pretend to be a family then?"

"In part because when Carlisle and I arrived, our guises were that of people in their late twenties," Esme said. "We told people we DID have children, but whenever anyone asked, we created norma excuses for why they weren't seen. We tried to make ourselves as social as we could around the normal vampire limitations. It was easier that way, because it meant we could live in Forks longer."

"Oh," I said. "Because you don't age anymore."

"Exactly," Jasper said. "Now, you've probably seen humans that have that 'you don't look a day older' sort of effect, but, it's… harder to do when you're a vampire who lives in the same spot for a long period of time."

Royal nodded. "It's sort of a Vampire 101 that unless you've got some sort of power that lets you mask your identity or change how you look, always assume the youngest possible persona you can when you move to a new place and go from there." He shrugged. "Plus, it also helps when a good chunk of your family knows how to use makeup like movie special effects."

Alice giggled. "Yeah, that's how we make ourselves look younger when we need to."

"Or older, in our case," Carlisle said, gesturing to himself and Esme. "We were both turned in our thirties, which isn't a bad thing, but, after a certain point, the average person does begin to take on noticeable differences. Graying in the hair, harder features, wrinkles, all of that. Since we can't have that ourselves, we rely on those 'special effects' to help alleviate that problem."

"Granted, as time goes by and humans change, it seems aging has slowed a bit," Esme said. "Nowadays, it's easier to go around pretending to be one age, even when you don't look it, so long as we do so within reason."

"I think I understand," I said. "So you guys have lived here since I was a kid, and that was, like, well over thirty plus years ago. Damn." I shook my head. "I'm not sure why my parents never mentioned you. Or maybe they did and I forgot."

"We went by different names," Esme said. "Mine was Lenore. And Carlisle's was Benjamin. We were the Evanses, if you recall us at all?"

I blinked. "Wait. Ben and Lenore Evans? That was you?!"

They both smiled and nodded.

The memory came rushing back to me of over thirty years ago, when I was a little girl. I vaguely recalled seeing people who looked like Esme and Carlisle, but their features were younger, smoother, and their hair had been different. 'Ben' had a beard, and black hair, with darker, more amber-colored eyes, while Lenore had shorter hair and a small mole on her cheek - a birthmark, she'd said to me when I asked her, the way kids would always ask random, somewhat embarrassing questions.

Now that I was sitting here, staring at them, the faces I remembered merged into the faces of the two vampires. And they fit, minus the more obvious differences.

"Wow," I whispered. "That… wow."

"I rather enjoyed having short hair during that time," Esme said. "It was refreshingly easy to maintain. I might go back to it soon, if I'm honest." She fluffed her caramel locks and nudged Carlisle. "You, on the other hand, are never allowed to grow a beard like that ever again, sweetheart. That thing was a fucking eyesore."

Carlisle looked somewhat abashed. "I thought it would be nice to see how I looked with facial hair. I sort of liked the early stages, but…"

"It was like kissing the furry backside of a bear," Esme said, her nose wrinkling in distaste. "Too scratchy and hairy for my taste, sorry, dear. And black did NOT suit you for a hair color. Brown and red do, but black doesn't. "

Carlisle nodded. "Yes, yes, you told me. But, if we could try not to go on tangents until we've finished…?"

Esme chortled. "I know."

"At any rate," Carlisle said. "Yes, that was us sometime back. We'd donned those personas for about… I want to say five years prior, and then, when we moved to Forks, we kept them for about ten extra years. You were in your later teenage years when we switched things up entirely and changed to the current personas, our real ones, incidentally."

'Sixteen?' I thought. Then that might've explained even more why I didn't recognize them at first.

When I turned fifteen, I wound up leaving Forks for a couple of years, to attend high school in Arizona. I had extended family over there - an Aunt and an Uncle, my mom's sister and brother-in-law - and when I got enrolled in a good school that offered more than Forks High, Charlie and Renee were totally fine with me spending time there, provided I came to visit Forks for the holidays, which I did.

I completed my senior year in Arizona when I was eighteen, and when I graduated, I came back to Forks a little after my nineteenth birthday. It made sense, then, why I wouldn't have seen Carlisle and Esme beforehand. Though that did leave the question - I never saw or heard of them when I came back to Forks, and I was in Forks until after I was twenty-one, when we took that vacation…

I shook the thoughts away.

"We… heard about what happened," Esme said after a moment, her expression growing stern. "I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that Aro and his lot would do something like that. They always tend to feed from tourists, though why, I've never known." Her lips twitched. "I am truly sorry for what happened to you, dear, and to your parents. I regret that we didn't know they planned to go, even though…"

She looked sad, and didn't finish. Carlisle put his hand on her shoulder.

"May we ask what happened, exactly?" Carlisle asked. "Meaning what happened to you, that is. If that isn't too… personal, of course. I can understand, given the fact we're all strangers sitting in your home, acting as if we've known you your whole life. We mean no offense, and if you'd rather not discuss it, that's quite alright."

"We'd never force it out of you," Alice said softly. Her eyes shimmered.

I grimaced. "Oh. Well." I drummed my fingers on the sides of the cushion. "We were in Italy on vacation. And, uh, Heidi… I guess she used her gift to ensnare us and make us follow her. We went with her and a group of other people, and then…" I closed my eyes, fighting back the pain that threatened to hit me. "You can guess what went down then."

"They spared you," Rosalie said.

"Was it pity?" Royal asked. "Remorse, maybe?"

"The Volturi aren't good at remorse," Victoria said - her tone was cold and hard. "I doubt that's the case at all."

"Aro and Sulpicia claimed they regretted it," I whispered.

"You don't seem to believe that, though," Jasper said.

"Not really."

"Smart girl," Elizabeth said. "Better to keep your wits about you with that group."

"Then why didn't they kill you?" Edward asked.

"Because I had some kind of… I dunno, Aro and Sulpicia's gifts didn't work well on me," I said. "Aro couldn't read my mind as easily as he could normal people. Said something about me being a 'shield' and had Sulpicia try her gift. It didn't work, either, and I guess that was enough to keep them interested in me. So, they turned me."

"Just… like that?" Alice asked.

"Yes," I said.

Silence fell again. I counted the ticking some more, to keep my mind from drifting into panic at the quiet - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…

"Doesn't surprise me," Victoria muttered. "They always do like to turn people that catch their interest." She growled to herself and sighed.

"Easy, Tori," Elizabeth said.

"That would explain it, though," Carlisle said. When I looked at him, his expression was troubled, though his eyes stayed gentle. "A shield, though? How interesting." He frowned and seemed to think for a long moment. "I wonder, then, how Alice was able to foresee you if you have a shielding ability?"

"Oh, well, um." I bit my lip. "Apparently, my gift is only a mental one. I can block out other mental-based gifts, but, nothing else. Physical gifts, or gifts tied to manipulating non-mental things like emotions or the environment, or, I guess seeing the future, works just fine."

Alice nodded. "I think I get it. Yours is a gift that centers on preservation, then, only specifically mental preservation."

"Sure?" I said.

"Victoria's gift is similar," Elizabeth said, nodding to her mate. "Tell her, Tori."

Victoria shrugged. "My gift is specific to my ability to survive. I have an innate survival sense, you could say - it alerts me to danger before it happens, and when I'm in combat, it allows me to sense what's going to happen, so that I can avoid it and keep fighting. Sort of like Spider-Man's spidey sense, in a way."

"Which is why I refuse to accept the notion that YOU are the strongest of us," Rosalie said, her tone playful. "You and Alice may have a lot of combat experience and physical power, but you both use your gifts in combat. I'm the one who has super strength as a gift, and I don't have a crutch to rely on."

"Catch me outside someday," Victoria said, narrowing her eyes.

"How 'bout that?" Elizabeth added.

Rosalie stared. "You… did not just… quote that meme at me. You did NOT."

"I think we just did," Victoria said. She and Elizabeth giggled together.

I blinked a few times and glanced at Alice.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Welcome to the Cullen clan, Bella. Even when we try to be serious, we end up turning into cheeseballs with bad taste. It's a habit, and one that I don't think is ever gonna be broken at this rate." She shrugged, then smiled at me. "How does your gift work, exactly?"

"It's… internal," I said slowly. "Kind of like a mental bubble, I guess. When I tap into it, it feels like I'm blowing a bubble around myself. I can stretch it around others, too, but I can't really expand it all that far." I paused and looked around the room, thinking to myself. "I think… I could surround this whole house and be okay. Any further and it would be a huge strain. I tried once. Blacked out for several hours afterwards."

"Damn," Alice said. "Impressive."

"Fortunately for us that most of our gifts are less mental-based than that," Royal said with a chortle. "Otherwise, you'd be a horrible enemy to have, I'm sure. I think only Edward's the one who would have a hard time since he can't read your mind." He paused and looked toward Edward. "Can you?"

I turned to Edward as well.

Edward scowled. "No, I can't. I don't appreciate you just revealing my ability to her, either, Royal."

"Oh, please," Elizabeth said. "What's she going to do against nine of us, Ed? Get that pole out of your ass, would you?"

"Sorry," I said.

"Don't you go apologizing," Elizabeth said, shaking her finger. "You're the host, WE are the guests. It's only fair you learn what we can do." She grinned. "You know Victoria, Edward, and Alice's gifts now. Mine is a simple enough one - super speed. I am the fastest in our coven, capable of moving so quick I can generate after images of myself. It's handy for hunting, and handy for annoying the piss out of my loved ones." She fluttered her eyes at this.

"Oh," I said. "I didn't know many vampires in the Volturi with physical gifts like that. How fast can you move?"

"Up to three times the speed of the average vampire, I'd say," Elizabeth said. She looked thoughtful. "So whereas a normal vampire would take… we'll say six hours to get from here to Italy if they ran and swam the whole way without any vehicular assistance, and that's counting the moments where they'd have to be wary of human onlookers, I would only need about two hours to go from here to Italy at full speed."

"Damn," I whispered.

"She's amazingly quick," Alice said, nodding. "My visions have a hard time keeping up."

"She isn't the only one with a physical gift," Rosalie said. "MINE is strength, as I said before. I'm as strong as Liz is fast." She smirked. "If not more so."

"I have the ability to sense and control emotions," Jasper said. "I can feel and isolate all emotions around me, and in a sense, I can play off them when I need to. That includes calming down a full room of people who are nervous or angry, riling up someone I need to get upset, or adjusting how happy or sad someone feels, and so on. I haven't done it to you, if you're worried. I can feel your tension and unease, but, I had faith things would work out naturally."

"He also hates to use it on big groups, especially if it's something other than calmness," Alice said.

Jasper nodded. "That too. I am wary of my gift's usage - I only use it when I feel I REALLY need to. It feels… wrong otherwise, like I'm forcing people to feel what they don't want to feel. I don't care for that."

"Mine's a secret," Royal said, winking. "I only tell those I know well enough."

Alice snorted. "It isn't even that big of a deal, Royal."

"Humor me!" Royal said.

"Okay, that's enough. Rather than let this conversation keep taking random u-turns," Edward said, "I think I'll bite the bullet and play the bad guy by being the most forward with the important question - you were turned by the Volturi. I assume that means you were a part of their guard, then?"

I bit my lip again. "Oh, well. Yes. I was."

"Again, not a big surprise," Victoria said. She met my gaze, her eyes taking on a knowing look. "Might as well come clean - I was with the Volturi for a while, too. So if you're worried about having that blood on your hands, don't. We're in the same boat, you and I."

I felt a little bit of relief upon hearing that. "How long ago were you with them?"

"I was a Volturi guard for about eighteen years," Victoria said. "I left them thirty years before this coven came to Forks - so, all in all, I've been away for about sixty years now." She shook her head, her facial features hardening. "I don't miss. Don't miss the political bullshit, don't miss the backstabbing or the lies, don't miss the secret keeping, don't miss any of it, really."

"Wow," I whispered. "I… I didn't know there was that much. I mean, I always got the sense there was a lot of bad stuff going on, but…"

"How long were you with them?" Victoria asked.

"Ten years," I said.

"Ten?" Victoria looked surprised. "Fuck, that's the least amount of time I've heard yet. Good on you for getting away when you did, Bella."

"But how DID you get away?" Edward asked, narrowing his eyes at me, as if he were trying to suss out the reason from looking at me alone. "I've always heard it's difficult to leave the Volturi."

"I had a little help," I admitted. "One of the Heads kind of… I think she not only talked me into it, but when I did leave, I think she was the one who helped me do it without anyone trying to persuade me to stay. Or trying to kill me. That I know of."

"Didyme," Victoria said.

I nodded, feeling a rush of relief now. "Yes."

"She's like that," Victoria said. "Didyme's the nicest vampire there, and the one who looks out for the rest of the guards. She's the one who goes out of her way to help those who are unhappy or want to leave to get the fuck out of there. Aro and Sulpicia… they may not LIKE it, but they always end up bending to her will. Helps when Chelsea is her mate, though. Damn lucky she was willing to stick her neck out for me when she did. Seems she did the same for you. Good on her."

"Yeah," I said. I felt a little more at ease now. "I didn't know she'd helped other vampires before. That's… I guess she really was genuine when she talked to me about leaving and being happy."

Victoria nodded. "I don't know WHY she does it. But, she was always kind to me, always honest and stuff."

"So, then, I guess we wasted our trip here?" Royal said. "I mean, it's obvious our friend here is ex-Volturi, and it's even more obvious her diet consits solely of animals. That means we don't need to worry about her being a threat to the human populace, which is less stress for us since we don't have to worry about anyone getting hurt or worse. Plus, since Carlisle and Esme sort of know her from before…"

"I don't see how that makes this any less of a thing to deal with," Edward said. "There are still too many unknowns for us to consider. And this WAS our territory first…"

"Edward," Esme said, scowling. "Stop that. Bella is a Swan, and the Swans have lived here longer than we have. Technically, if it's anyone's territory, it's Bella's."

"Wait, it is?" I asked, blinking. "But… you guys were vampires before me."

"Yes, but, by vampire law, it is in fact your land, in a manner of speaking," Carlisle said.

"In vampire terms, it's yours," Esme added, chuckling. "Not that you own the exact land or anything - you simply have claim to the area because your family was here longer than ours. Within our world, it is we who are now trespassing, rather than you trespassing, as Edward seems to think."

"I'm just being practical," Edward muttered.

"You're being an asshole," Elizabeth said. "Chill, Ed."

He grumbled. "I loathe when you call me that."

"Which is why I love to do it," Elizabeth said, with a big smile and mock sweetness.

I just watched the exchange, still very confused about all this. "So, um, okay. If, by vampire laws or rules, or whatever, this is my territory… Does that mean I get to choose what vampires live here?" I twirled a strand of hair around my finger. "I'm sorry, I don't understand any of this. This is all so… new to me, it's kind of overwhelming."

Everyone exchanged looks with one another.

Alice spoke first. "Did they never tell you the laws of the land? Their own laws?"

"I guess not?" I said. "I mean, besides keeping my nature hidden from humans, and, you know, the basic stuff I guess any vampire would expect to know. Aro and Sulpicia were always more focused on me learning how to use my gift than anything. That, and, the combat stuff. I always hated that."

"Not one for fighting, are you?" Jasper asked. "I can kind of tell." He nodded slowly. "I was a soldier when I was a human. Fought during the Civil War - I was born in the South, but I wound up fighting for the North, against the racist slavers that I regrettably had to call family."

"I don't think that has anything to do with what she just said," Royal said.

Jasper waved a hand. "I'm just telling Bella so she has a sense of where I'm coming from when I say that I understand why you wouldn't want to be a fighter. I hated being a soldier. Hated fighting, hated killing. Only did it because I had to."

Royal snickered. "Still not relevant at all to what she just said, Jazz. Stop dropping exposition on her. This isn't one of your swashbuckling action books, my man."

"My POINT," Jasper said, shooting Royal a look before he turned back to me, "is that I get where you're coming from."

"Thanks," I said. "A lot of the Volturi thought I was weird for not liking fighting."

"There's nothing wrong with not liking violence," Carlisle said softly, but with a firmness in his voice. "I have never liked the thought of taking another life. Even when I was human, I detested the thought of going around to kill people, or animals, without an actual, legit cause. And even then, I've despised violence. I was fortunate, I suppose, when I was turned that I had the self-control needed to completely abstain from human blood entirely."

"You did?" I asked.

Esme nodded. "Carlisle is the only one among us who has a completely clean record in terms of human blood. The rest of us… Well." She looked ashamed. "Not so much."

Again, I felt a bit of relief within me. "I thought that I was the biggest monster here since, for the ten years I was with the Volturi…"

"No," Victoria said. "You're not alone."

I sighed. "This is all so… different."

"But, let us not dwell on somber topics," Carlisle said. "The main reason we came to meet you is because Alice informed us of your presence, and of your dietary habits, and Esme and I believed it would be a good idea to introduce ourselves. That way," he smiled at this, a very gentle smile, "we could potentially form a stronger bond than if we remained total strangers."

Esme chuckled. "In layman's terms, we wanted to extend to you an invitation - to join our coven."

I stared. "You… what?"

"It's an open invitation," Esme said. "And you can take all the time you need to think it over, of course. There's no pressure - you did just come back to Forks after an extended period of time, so, we understand if there's hesitation and all of that."

"I'm… I'm sorry, but, what?" I said again, rubbing my eyes. "Is this a joke? You don't even know me, and you're offering me a chance to join you?"

Alice coughed and tapped the side of her forehead. "I see the future, remember?"

"The future is never set in stone, not fully," Edward said. He seemed… displeased, and folded his arms. "I knew it would be better to wait to tell our new 'friend' this. I don't like the notion of inviting someone we don't know into our family, especially when we just met her. And no, Alice, just because you 'foresaw' it doesn't make it any easier for me to accept the idea."

"Perhaps we should've waited…" Jasper said, rubbing the back of his neck. "This is a lot to process in such a short amount of time."

I couldn't really form any coherent words - or thoughts. I was too surprised.

"Apologies, dear," Carlisle said. He gave a somewhat awkward chuckle. "Perhaps we didn't think this through enough."

"Oh, bah," Esme said. She got up and came to stand before me, kneeling so we were at eye level. Her eyes were tender, and her smile just as sweet. "Listen to me, Bella. I know this is strange. It's sudden, it's unexpected, and it goes against what little you've learned about our world. That isn't your fault - it's completely understandable why this would be so damn confusing. But we mean what we say. We would not make the offer lightly, but, for one thing, we are not 'strangers' to your family. We knew your parents and cared for them. They were good people, and we mourn their deaths."

I grimaced.

Esme took my hands in hers. "This is, in a way, an extension to you to make up for our inability to help them and to help you. Right now, you're alone - that's how you feel, isn't it? You left the Volturi because you were unhappy, yet now, even when you're in a familiar place, you feel lost and purposeless. I can tell from reading your eyes, without having to need a gift for empathy like Jasper or the ability to sense the future like Alice."

"I… I…"

"Let us help you," Esme said. "You don't need to come and straight away join our coven, that's not what we're offering. Rather, think of us as friends - as mentors. Let us teach you what the Volturi didn't, let us show you that there is a place for you in this world."

I stared into her eyes. They were so… motherly, it made me think… of Renee.

My throat felt tight, and my eyes felt moist. I forgot that vampires COULD cry, but I didn't bother wiping them away or fighting them off. Esme released my hands, and I stared down at them for a few seconds - or maybe longer, I wasn't sure. Either way, I thought, and thought, and thought.

"I could use help," I said eventually. "And it would be nice to… not be alone."

Esme's smile grew, and she stepped away from me. "Give us a chance is all I ask of you, dear. If you end up deciding you'd rather not, we will leave you be. The choice is yours, and we will respect it, I promise."

"Okay," I said. "Thanks, I guess."

She nodded and blurred back to stand next to Carlisle, who also stood up.

"In that case," Carlisle said, "we shall take our leave." He smiled again. "Thank you for allowing us to come into your home to speak to you, and thank you for telling us a little about yourself. It's greatly appreciated, and we hope to maintain a good relationship going forward. Don't hesitate to come visit us when you have the time - there's always going to be someone home, and we'd be happy to be the hosts."

"You'll know where to find us, I'm sure," Esme said, chuckling.

"Okay," I said. "Um, thanks."

"Well, this'll be interesting," Royal said. "Nice to meet you, Bella. Don't be a stranger."

He was the first to leave, blurring out of the room without another word. Elizabeth and Victoria got up next and smiled at me.

"Yeah, it's always nice to make new friends," Elizabeth said cheerfully.

Victoria gave me a small smile, with a knowing look in her eyes. "We'll talk sometime, if you want. I can tell you more about my experience - we can compare notes or something, too. Just know that you aren't alone in being former Volturi, alright? I was with them for a long while before I left. I know how you're feeling right now. It gets better."

"Okay," I said, more to myself than to Victoria. "Thanks."

Then they were gone.

Edward just stared at me, his lips pursing. "I hope we don't regret this."

He didn't say another word before he was gone.

Rosalie and Jasper sighed in unison.

"Always the attitude," Jasper said. "He's worse than you, Rose."

"Tell me about it," Rosalie said. She met my gaze and smirked. "Look, I know we'll be seeing a lot of you in the future, so, just don't do anything stupid or reckless, and we'll be fine. You seem smart and cautious enough to avoid that, though, which is good."

Jasper patted her shoulder. "Do try not to insult our new friend, Rose."

"I'm not!" Rosalie said. "Now let's go before Royal steals the damn PS4 controllers again, the asshole. You know he will so he can play all by himself."

"We can't have that, now can we?" Jasper replied.

Then they were gone, leaving only Carlisle and Esme and Alice behind in my house.

"Our children are quite the handful, as you can see," Carlisle said. He shook his head, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. "I suppose that's what you would expect when you have a large, eclectic family. How strange it must seem to you with your experience thus far, but, I assure you, we're very normal for vampires."

"Normal." Esme snorted. "That's a good one, dear."

Carlisle shrugged. "At any rate, thank you again for allowing us into your home. Please do stop by if you wish. We would be happy to have you."

"And we'll see you around, I'm sure, as Rosalie said," Esme said.

"Okay," I said, nodding. "Thanks for, you know, not killing me?"

"We wouldn't dare," Esme said, her tone soft.

They both nodded, and then they blurred out of my house, shutting the door behind them. That only left one other vampire in the room with me. Alice had yet to budge from where she was sitting. She was looking around rather than at me, although after a long moment, she turned her head and our eyes met.

Alice smiled. "I can't imagine how confusing this must be for you."

"Very," I said. "I just met a whole bunch of people who happen to be vampires like me, and they way they talked, and the way you all act with one another…" I bit my lip. "It's like… It's so different for me now. If I were a human, living without a clue that vampires existed, it would be one thing. But now it feels like I have to re-learn everything I used to know or something. I dunno, I may be wrong, but… that's how it feels."

"I think I can understand," Alice said, her voice growing gentler. "But believe me when I say it isn't as bad as you might think. It might be weird, and it will take some time to adjust, I totally get that. But we're no different from a normal human family when you come down to it. Sure, we're superhuman, immortal beings with powers that feed on animal blood to live." She chuckled at this. "Yet beneath the exterior, we've got the same kind of dynamic and such."

"Guess so," I said. "Being with the Volturi turned my whole world view upside down."

"I bet," Alice said. "It'll be okay, though. You won't be alone in this, I promise."

"Why are you doing this for me?" I asked. "I'm a stranger to you."

Alice tapped the side of her forehead again and winked. "I've seen."

"That's it?" I asked, and I frowned. "That's so… odd. I can't fathom being able to see the future and then just… letting it play out. Or pushing it a certain way, I guess."

"I don't try to meddle with the future if I can help it," Alice said. "Sometimes, if I see a chain of events that I feel is a good thing, I might push it along to ensure it goes the way it's supposed to. But, even then, I try to be wary. I know it may not seem like it from what little interactions we've had, but, I prefer to let the cards fall as they do, rather than influencing it directly."

I furrowed my brow. "Then what do you call this?"

"Cheating," Alice said, giggling. "I am, admittedly, a cheat at times. But only when it's for fun or when it's for a good cause!"

I blinked a few times. "You're… an interesting person, Alice."

"Why thank you," Alice said. "I still maintain that you, Bella Swan, are stinking CUTE."

I bit my lip, hiding the small smile that threatened to form. "Thanks, I guess."

"Sure thing," Alice said.

Silence fell, and I sat there, unsure of what to do with myself now. Alice sighed and gradually stood up.

"Well, I think I'll head out and go home with the others," she said. "I know you've got a lot to think about and a lot to absorb after this meeting. Again, it's understandable, so don't think you're doing something wrong or that you're out of your element. Your situation is a much different one from the norm. Honestly, I was in a similar boat when I was a newborn vampire, struggling to figure out the world I was thrust into."

"Did you ever find an answer on your own?" I asked.

"I found the answer when I found my family," Alice said, her expression warm. "They helped me pick up the pieces of what my life had shattered into. So just know you don't have to be all by yourself in this. We can help." She smiled. "Just give us a chance and we'll do our best to help you find YOUR missing pieces."

"I still don't see why you would help me," I admitted. "But, I am grateful for the kindness. I expected things to be so much worse than they were. So, thanks for that."

She grinned. "Hey, no sweat. Er. No… blood? Never mind."

She moved toward the door, then stopped as she opened it. I joined her, if only because I knew it was polite to see her off since I hadn't done that for any of the others. It seemed I would have to remind myself of all the basic human courtesies, which felt weird to think, and even weirder to consider it was something I'd forgotten.

"Thanks again for letting us visit," Alice said.

"You're welcome?" I said.

Alice's lips twitched, but, she nodded. "Perhaps I'll stop by to see you again? It's fun to make new friends, don't you think?"

"Friends?" I blinked a few times, then nodded. "Yeah, I… I think so, too."

"Good." She beamed. "Take care, Bella. Bye."

"Bye."

With that, she darted out the door into the night. I watched her go for a few seconds before I shut the door and locked it as a precaution. I meandered over to sit back on the couch and relaxed into it, letting out a tense breath. It felt so weird to have met so many vampires and just… casually talked to them, as if it were a normal thing to do. My time with the Volturi had definitely made it hard for me to be this open with strange vampires, but, they seemed nice enough.

For now, I had time to myself to think and consider my options. There weren't many.

"The most I can do is give them a chance, I guess," I said to myself. Honestly, at this rate, it was the better option - it made the most sense to me since I was on my own in all this anyways.

But sitting there by myself, talking to the walls wasn't going to do me much good. Since I didn't sleep the same anymore, I had nothing to do to kill time until the next day. I bit my lip and began to consider. Going out was an option, but Forks, while nice, didn't have the best night life options. I could always go further than Forks, and yet, I didn't want to risk it right now. Not after coming back to Forks after twenty years. So, I would stay in, and… do what? I didn't feel like cleaning. I could read, or, I supposed I could watch some TV…

"You know," I said, as inspiration hit and I glanced toward the cabinet where all the movies my parents and I owned likely still sat. "I haven't watched any of my old movies in twenty years. Why not that?"

I grinned at the memory of my old DVD and blu-ray collection. There were tons of things in there to see that I hadn't seen in ages, like the classic Disney movies, a ton of Pixar films, superhero movies, action and aventure, drama, comedy, horror, everything. I dashed over and opened the cabinet, and there they all were, as neat and sorted as they had been when I last saw them. Over sixty options to choose from, plus plenty of others under the TV.

"This will be a good distraction," I said. And right now, I needed the distraction and the good memories.

I only hoped it would stick. And I hoped, deep down, that things with me and these Cullen vampires would turn out well. It would be nice to have company, to make some actual friends. To, as Alice said, find the pieces I knew were missing.

 **A/N: The second installment in a commissioned series for apdarkness905. As of this writing, there is a third done, and I plan to do a fourth - I am thinking it'll end up being five or six parts altogether, at which point, I'll bring it to a close.**

 **I hope those of you who read this enjoy it for what it is, and if not, that's totally fine, too. Reviews are optional if you want to give them, you can always PM me your thoughts and feedback as well. Thank you for your time, and if anyone is interested in commissioning me, just drop me a line. Otherwise, until next time, take care!**


	3. Part Three

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, it's a commissioned piece of writing that I did (and had a ton of fun with, and continue to!).**

 **Missing Pieces - Part Three**

Time passed by a little slowly during the night - I was aware of it, maybe more so now than ever thanks to being a vampire - but it wasn't a bad thing per say. I spent it watching old movies, all of my favorites that I hadn't seen in over twenty years. It was strange, sitting alone in the family room, watching them without anyone else.

On the one hand, it brought back that sense of loneliness I'd tried to fight off. But, still, the nostalgia and the warmth I felt when I remembered watching them for the first time in theaters with Renee or Charlie or both, was enough to ease some of the pain away. Granted, it was the same nostalgia that kept me from going into the Disney and Pixar movies, the ones I'd seen the most when I was a little girl. I'd come to those… eventually.

When morning rolled around, I'd managed to finish the entire Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, all three of the Hobbit movies, and a good chunk of the Harry Potter films. I'd only just started Deathly Hallows Part One when I noticed the time - it was seven o'clock, which meant I'd been watching movies for quite a while now. I didn't mind, but, I also began to wonder what I would do with myself today.

Having a lot of time to myself gave me a chance to really think about the Cullens, even while I was busy watching movies.

I realized now that, while I still didn't fully know that I COULD trust them, I'd acted like a bit of a doofus the other night when I met them. The awkwardness was unintended, but, I couldn't help myself - after escaping the Volturi and being on my own for ten years, it was weird to be approached by a coven of vampires, let alone by a coven of vampires that were more like me in my preference to NOT kill humans for blood.

It was nice, sure, and it made it a little easier to not be as worried they might kill me. Even so…

I sighed. Since they lived in Forks, it was going to be impossible to go anywhere without running into them, I knew that already. So I would have to get used to the fact I wasn't the only vampire around - and get used to it fast.

'Maybe I should go visit them?' I thought. They knew I would be able to find them using my nose to track their scents, that much was a given. I questioned if going to their place by myself was the wisest of ideas, and yet, I also knew that NOT going could offend or upset them, which could in turn lead to a whole slew of problems.

I had no clue what to do. That was the thing that hadn't changed since I met them.

I decided to stop the movie I was watching, since I could come back to it later whenever I wanted. Keeping busy seemed like the best course of action for me right now, although I wasn't entirely sure what I could - or should - do with myself without any sort of…

There was a knock at the door. I stopped and turned toward it, blinking a few times.

'Who could that be?' I wondered. The last thing I expected was a visitor of any kind, especially since I hoped - and silently prayed - the Cullens were the only people who knew I lived here. I worried it could be a trap, or the Volturi, but I also knew if I didn't answer that it would be a moot point either way. Then again, why would the Volturi knock? That didn't feel like them, not really…

I walked toward the door at a casual human pace and opened it, only to be greeted by the grinning face of Alice Cullen.

"Morning, Bella," Alice said. "Did you have a good time watching movies last night?"

I blinked again. "How did… Oh, right. You can see the future." I bit my lip and stood there, feeling a little awkward for some reason, probably because of how odd it was to really consider the fact she could see the future. "Um, hi, by the way."

She grinned wider. "I know, it's probably weird for me to pop in like this out of the blue. I'm afraid it's something of a habit of mine, however." She shrugged at this. "Either way, I hope you don't mind me stopping by. I didn't have any plans for the day, and, well, I sort of cheated and saw you didn't either. So, I thought I'd be an obnoxious, nosy ass and force my company upon you to remedy both our problems!"

"Oh. Okay."

Her grin weakened. "...that was a joke, Bella. I mean, not the obnoxious, nosy ass part, I'm kind of an asshole by nature. I just… You know, I thought it would be nice to hang out if you wanted. I always enjoy making new friends, and you sort of seem like you could use one, so…"

"Oh. Oh, right." My cheeks would've been on fire if I were a human, I knew, and I was secretly grateful that I'd lost the ability to blush - I blushed WAY too much when I was a human, usually over the dumbest of things, but always over things like this. "Thanks. Sorry, I'm still kind of… adjusting to all this."

"I get it," Alice said. She rubbed the back of her neck, appearing genuinely sheepish instead of uber confident, at least for a couple seconds. "I'm sorry if I'm being too pushy with all this. I don't mean to be, honest. I… admit that, having seen the future, I might not be thinking as fully in the moment as I should be. One of my lesser habits, I know."

"I can't imagine what that's like," I said. But then I remembered that we were standing in the doorway, Alice outside while I had my door open like an idiot. "Oh, uh, come in?"

"Thanks," Alice said. Her smile was friendly and she nodded appreciatively.

She walked inside, and I shut the door. We went into the living room without me having to remember this time around, which I considered a plus, since it meant I was remembering how to be a decent host - I hoped.

We sat down on the couch together, her and I. Alice smiled softly at me - her eyes were warm and bright, and, whether it was my imagination or not, incredibly transfixing. I'd noticed the color of them the other day, how vibrant they were. Yet sitting here now, and gazing into them, it was even easier to see. It was a little mesmerizing.

"Why don't we start this off more fairly to you," Alice said after a stretch of silence. She shifted her position, putting one leg over the other as she leaned into the couch. "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions. Feel free to ask me whatever you wish, and I'll answer."

I resisted the urge to bite my lip as I thought about it, for, like, five seconds. "What's it like being able to see the future? Does it… does it make things more interesting? Is it a burden? I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it, to be honest. I mean, I'm sure it has its benefits, but…"

Alice looked thoughtful. "Being able to see the future is a double-edged sword, I'd say. On the one hand, yeah, it has its benefits. It's nice to be able to tell when danger may show up because it allows me to act as a warning system for my family, like I mentioned the other day. Edward is similar with his telepathy, but mine has a much broader range, and I can see all sorts of futures that allow us to be prepared for any sort of event. But, on the other hand, it's kind of annoying at times."

"Just annoying?" I asked. Seeing the future all the time sounded like a hassle more than anything, minus whatever good or important stuff you saw.

She shrugged. "My gift is one that I can typically choose to use. It's like a switch in the back of my head," she tapped her skull, "I don't have it active at all times unless I WANT it to be active. The problem arises when certain visions hit me and take over, preventing me from focusing on anything but what I'm seeing."

"What kinds of visions are those?"

"The fully set in stone ones," Alice said. "Normally, they're harmless, but there have been times when I've seen danger on the way, giving us less time to prepare ourselves. And even when they're harmless visions, it's hard for me to snap out of it until the vision finishes playing."

I nodded slowly. "So, how does a vision usually look? You told me about the spider web thing before, but, is there more? Like, when you get it, how's it appear to you?"

"Like a film, I'd say," Alice said, nodding toward the TV. "I see whatever vision I've received as though I were floating there, watching a movie. It's a continuous scene that can last anywhere from thirty seconds to several minutes. Fortunately, I've only ever had a vision last longer than a minute once or twice. They're typically quite brief, even when they seem longer."

"Jeez," I whispered. "But normally, you can control when you see the future?"

"Yes," Alice said. "I can go a full day without any visions whatsoever if I choose to, unless one forces itself onto me. I can also selectively search for specific futures, depending on the criteria that I give myself. In those cases, it's much like choosing a channel to watch on a TV - I think about something, then allow my gift to stretch out that big spider web I told you about, and from there, I pick where I want to go. It's kind of cool, if taxing at times."

I absorbed these new details and thought it over - it sounded cool, but, I wasn't sure if I would've liked having futures forced onto me. But then, I wondered further…

"How far into the future do you usually see?" I asked, leaning in a little.

Alice smiled. "Usually, when I search myself, I can see a few months in advance - the latest I've ever seen is… I'd say a year, maybe two if I put a lot of effort into it. Same goes for when the future decides to hit me upside the head. I've never gotten a vision of something beyond a year or two years. I'm not even sure if it's possible for me to look that far out, in truth. I've never tried."

My lips twitched. "How long ago did you see me coming to Forks?"

Something flickered in her eyes. "I first caught a glimpse of you last year. Out of the blue, really. I'd just finished hunting with Rose and Liz when I got hit with a vision of you, golden eyes and all, walking up to your house. It was a brief glimpse of you, but I knew right away that we'd have a visitor. I just didn't know when."

"Oh." I looked at her curiously. "You made it seem like it was… I dunno, worse."

She chuckled. "No, nothing bad. But I was hit by a chain of visions about you over the course of that year, right up to the month you came back." Again, something flickered in her eyes, and she gazed at me… tenderly. "I knew I had to introduce myself to you in town yesterday. I just had to." She paused to rub the back of her neck again. "I do want to… apologize if I came off too pushy or rude. I was so caught up in the moment…"

"It's okay," I said. "You weren't too bad, honestly. I've dealt with worse."

"I'm sure," Alice said. "But even so. I like to make a good first impression, and I know I didn't do the best of jobs. So, I'm truly sorry."

"Okay," I said again.

"May I ask you a question?" Alice asked.

I shrugged. "Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Nothing too personal, I promise," Alice said. "I'm mostly curious about what it was like to be with the Volturi. You were with them for ten years, you said?"

"Yeah." I ran a hand through my hair. "The first few years were… rough. I mean, going there on vacation to have some fun and relax, only for everything to turn into a nightmare… It was hard to adjust, especially when I didn't have a choice in any of it."

Alice winced. "I'm so sorry, Bella."

"It's… fine," I said. "It still hurts when I think about it, but, I've gotten better at handling the pain. Aside from that, I… I don't know how to really classify my time with them. There were days when I hated it. Hated being there because it felt like I was stuck, forced into some giant prison with no bars. I was scared to leave because I'd seen what the others could do, and the fact I was a member of the guard was sort of… forced into me, somehow.

"But then, there were days where it was okay. I made some friends there, I guess you could say. Friends with… er. Benefits." I bit my lip at this. "They helped in the darker moments, if I'm honest."

Alice nodded. "I can see that. It's nice to feel affection when you're lonesome. I've been there in the past."

"It had its ups and downs," I said. "Was a lot to get used to, especially with how… open so many of them were."

"Oh, I bet," Alice said. "Sex is kind of a hobby for us vampires." She laughed. "Having strong sex drives kind of does that to you."

"Tell me about it," I muttered.

"Did you ever find someone there?" she asked. "Not to be too nosy, of course. But, a mate?"

"No," I said. "I thought there was one person, but… no."

"Wow," Alice said. "That's… I mean, it's not surprising, on the one hand, since I doubt the Volturi is entirely focused on love of that nature. But really, I have to question how you didn't end up with a mate during those ten years with them. You're so stinking CUTE. Such a shame, but, that's their loss, isn't it?"

I chomped on my lip, trying to hide my embarrassment at her compliment. "I dunno. B-but, um, thank you."

She giggled. "No problem."

I let my hair fall in front of my face, to hide the fact I really sort of liked the way she was eyeing me. Was she flirting? I was used to vampire flirting from my time with the Volturi, but it'd been ten long years since then, so… I was definitely out of the loop.

After a moment of silence, Alice spoke again.

"What made you want to leave?" Alice asked softly. "If I may inquire, that is."

I thought about that for a few seconds. "Besides the fact I hated feeling trapped? I… I hated having to live like that. To feed off of people, I mean. That was probably the worst part, having to kill people to survive. I always tried to be quick and gentle with it - I despised whenever anyone was needlessly cruel. But it ate away at me for those ten years, the THING I'd become. I wanted to get away, to… find another way to survive."

"When did you think of surviving off animal blood?"

"In the first few months after I left," I said. "I was in a forest area and happened upon a herd of deer… And I realized, 'wait, they have blood, too, why can't I drink that?' and tried."

Alice smiled and nodded. "That's good to know. I was in a similar boat many years ago."

I flicked my gaze back to her. "Did you used to…?"

"I survived off human blood for my first twenty-five years," Alice said. "When I first came to, I wasn't thinking straight. And then I joined a coven that enjoyed human blood a little more than… necessary. I got addicted to it, like getting addicted to alcohol or something, only worse. I was drunk on how good it tasted and smelled and felt… Until reality decided to smack me in the face with my gift kicking in."

"It took twenty-five years for you to get your first vision?" I asked.

"Sort of," Alice said. "Until then, I'd gotten bursts of the future, but never anything major. I sort of thought it was a typical vampire ability and went with it - yet as the years went by, and I got more of them, I started to put the pieces together. And then… reality kind of kicked my ass." Her expression fell. "It was a big wake up call, to say the least."

I could tell there was a lot more there, but, I didn't press to find out.

Alice, however, met my gaze. "I saw the future of one of my victims' family members. Without them, that person grew depressed and took their life right before my eyes. It was slow and painful, and I saw every second of it. This… This broke me from the lack of thinking I'd been infected with. It woke me up, and I began to question what the hell I was even doing. The other vampires, they acted as if they didn't care. But, I couldn't do that. Not then. Not when I started to think about my past victims and the people they left behind."

She shook her head. "I realized how selfish and callous I'd been. I became so disgusted with myself, I honestly considered ending my own life in penance. But then I got a vision of the Cullens, and… I saw them feeding from animals. It gave me the spark to work on myself, I guess. My gift saved my life in a way."

"Do you think you would've stopped without your gift?" I asked.

Alice considered this. "I don't know, truthfully. I would like to think so, because while I know I am the farthest thing from a pure person or a saint, I don't like to think of myself as a COMPLETE monster. But then I remind myself how I went twenty-five years of killing poor humans for blood, and I stop myself from really being able to answer that. I suppose it's possible, but…" She cringed. "I'm thankful I got a conscience when I did."

"I feel you there," I whispered.

More silence. I fidgeted, wondering if this line of questioning was too personal.

"Relax, Bella," Alice said. "I don't mind talking about this kind of thing. It's not pleasant to talk about, by any means, but I see no reason in hiding it."

"Am I that obvious?" I asked.

She chuckled softly. "I don't need Edward or Jasper's gifts to tell, that much is true."

"So you saw the Cullens and wound up wanting to join them?" I asked.

"Sort of," Alice said. "I first saw them after that twenty-five year mark, and when I began to see them more frequently - also around the time I started to realize I was seeing the future, mind you - I actually got curious. Turns out my visions were sort of guiding me to them, because I soon saw myself as a member of their coven."

I gaped at her. "Wow. How did they take it when they found out?"

"I tried to be… well, polite when I met them," Alice said. She giggled. "I knew their names already by that point, but, I went about it a little more earnestly. I did tell them I was sure I could see the future, however. They didn't seem to mind - Carlisle and Esme were fascinated by my gift, and they were quite keen on helping me learn more about it once they let me join them."

"That's really neat," I said.

She nodded, her smile returning, big and bright. "I've been a Cullen ever since. About sixty years now, sixty-one this December. It's been a good sixty years with them - I have never regretted asking to join them, not once. They've become the family I lost when I was turned all those years ago."

I bit my lip. I was admittedly a little envious of her - to be able to find a group of people who could become her family. The Volturi had never been that, not for me. I wished I'd been that fortunate… or maybe that I'd never been turned at all. But…

I pushed these thoughts away. "So, um, what now?"

"Well, what would you like to do?" Alice asked. "I can leave and come back another time, if you prefer. We could go downtown, or go out of town. I won't force my company onto you if you'd rather be alone, so please don't hesitate to tell me if that's the case, Bella."

I shrugged. "I don't really have a preference because I honestly don't know. I sort of just… came back without any real plan for what I would do when I got here."

Alice gave me a humorously quizzical look. "Really? You came back to Forks without any sort of game plan first?"

"Kind of," I admitted, biting my lip out of habit. "I wasn't entirely sure I'd come back to a home, so, I guess I didn't think of planning for the long run of things. I see now that was a mistake. I'm… sort of in limbo, honestly."

Alice's lips pursed. "I see. Hm…"

She tapped her chin and looked toward the ceiling like she was deep in thought.

"Well, the first thing that comes to mind is you could do what we plan on doing," Alice said. "Since we've been in Forks for so long, we're planning to move soon. You could join us, if you wanted. We plan to pick a new location in a few months and begin attending college. I kind of want to go to California, but that's up in the air right now."

"Wouldn't I just be an inconvenience?" I asked. "I mean, you guys barely know me…"

She waved a hand off. "Doubt it. Believe me, Bella, you being a part of our plans makes things so much more interesting." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Keeps things new and fresh, you know? It's way more fun that way in my mind - plus, it would give us a good excuse to go to college. If you wish to go, of course, and if you wish to go with US."

I stared at her for a long moment as the gears in my head whirred to life. "You've seen this future, haven't you?"

She bit her lip.

"...I am… very lost on how I should feel about that," I said.

"Sorry," Alice said. "I thought it was only fair that you know what I can do, since that helped explain how I knew where you'd be and that you were a vampire, and so on. I'm trying not to divulge too much to avoid making things AWKWARD, but, I can see now that they're going to be a bit strange one way or the other."

"It's fine, I guess," I said, shrugging. "I mean, it's weird, yeah. I'm just not sure how to react to it all."

"Let me put it this way," Alice said, her tone softening. "Nothing I've seen of your future is bad in any way. There's nothing negative waiting for you, I promise. Most of what COULD happen depends entirely on you and your choices. And whatever may or may not happen, I will respect your decisions. The future is yours to choose, Bella. I just happen to know a few of the potential outcomes is all."

I arched an eyebrow. "Am I allowed to find out these outcomes?"

She met my gaze with one of interest. "Do you actually want to find out? Or would you rather experience the outcome for yourself?"

I blinked several times. "Huh."

"I'm quite content with either option," Alice said. "It's up to you, Bella."

"You're making this difficult," I said, watching mirth flash in her eyes.

"I'm a stinker, what can I say?" Alice replied, smirking. Then, more seriously, "but I also mean what I say. If you want to know, ask, and I'll tell you. I could reveal everything I've seen in one sitting if you were so inclined. I only say what is asked of me - unless I'm in a trollish mood, that is, at which point, I'll gladly tease things because it amuses me."

I narrowed my eyes. "Kind of evil, don't you think?"

That smirk returned. "That's the point, my dear."

"Okay then, Miss Future Seer," I said. "What will we decide to do next?"

Alice's lips pursed and she appeared thoughtful. "There are a few things that seem possible for how we'll go about this. But… the one that seems the most likely is… ah, we go hunting together. Splendid." She beamed. "From there, it's up in the air, but I kind of like it that way, don't you?"

"Hunting, huh?" I mulled that over. "I'm not super thirsty right now, but…" I shrugged. "Sounds like a good plan, I guess."

"Shall we, then?" Alice asked.

"Sure."

Alice grinned, and we both left the house.

It was strange, when I really thought about all this - meeting someone who could see practically any, if not any, future outcome before it even happened. And it was even weirder when I considered the fact she had known I was going to be here, and that she obviously knew a lot more about what would happen to me. I was troubled by it, but, also a little curious.

My mind was torn - part of me wanted to know to appease my curiosity, the other part wasn't sure it wanted to know, if only because I still had wariness about her and her coven.

Still, I supposed for now, I could shelf those feelings.

"So, what way are we going?" I asked once we were outside.

Alice snickered. "You know, just because I can see the future doesn't mean I use it for every little thing. Believe it or not, I DO avoid it when it isn't direly important. Unless I want to spoil myself on future episodes of a show I'm watching. Or spoil myself so I can torment my siblings." That wicked grin returned. "Fuck, is that ever fun."

I giggled. "Wow. You actually do that?"

"Shit, yeah," Alice said. "One time, last year, Royal and Tori started following this new crime series on Netflix. They got super invested - I didn't care for it, but, they got so into it, I had to watch it myself. So I watched every episode, including the ones that hadn't been released yet. And once I saw the season finale, and saw that they'd cancelled the show… Ooh." She wiggled her eyebrows. "It was so hard NOT to tease them. Poor things."

"Why would you do that?" I asked, unable to smile. "That's evil, you know."

"Like I said, I'm a stinker," Alice replied, winking. "And an asshole. Plus, it's fun - innocent, twisted fun, but fun nonetheless that's quite harmless. For me, anyways."

I shook my head - it was hard not to grin at the look of demented joy in her eyes. And yet, she was also sort of cute. Really cute, in fact.

"At any rate, there isn't a 'right' direction to go for hunting," Alice said. "We can go east, north, south, or west. Pick a way, we'll find some prey one way or the other." She giggled. "That wasn't meant to rhyme so much."

"I guess west, then," I said. I'd gone that direction before and found plenty of woodland creatures.

"West it is," Alice said. She cracked her knuckles. "Let's go kill us some Bambi."

I gaped at her. "...do you have to phrase it like that?"

"Would you prefer I use another cartoon animal?" Alice asked.

"Um. N-not really, no…"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, lighten up. We're not torturing the poor animals. Besides, they'd die in the wild one way or the other, PETA be damned. Now come on. I'll race you."

"Race me?"

"Uh huh!" She beamed and pointed west. "I've already caught sight of a herd of deer in the distance, far past a hiking trail that's closed for the weekend. In fact!" Her eyes flickered. "Let's make it even more fun - a competition with a wager on top. Whoever gets to the herd first and makes her kill, draining them completely of blood, wins."

"Awfully morbid for a race, don't you think?" I said. And yet… "But, okay, I guess. What happens if I win?"

She paused and looked thoughtful. "Hm, that's a good question. What exactly would you like? What do you need… Oh!" She snapped her fingers. "I know! If you win the race, I'll treat you to a shopping spree - we'll go out and get you clothes and other goodies that you'll need for your life on your own!"

I stared at her for a long pause. "You… you'd do that? For me?"

"Of course!" Alice said. She held her hands up. "Now, I know some people don't like accepting charity or gifts. I find that view a little silly myself, but, I do try to respect it. So, if you're not comfortable with it, I'll back down, and offer something else. Just know that we've got plenty of money given the fact we've been here for so long - cost is nothing to us, especially since we tend to focus on smaller scale things. No big, fancy brand names most of the time - nothing we buy typically exceeds, like, a couple hundred bucks."

I looked away from her, feeling a swell of guilt within my chest. Was it wrong that I was sorely tempted to accept her offer? Did that say a lot about who I was as a person?

"I mean…" I grimaced. "Are you sure?"

"Bella, don't be silly," Alice said. "I wouldn't offer it if it was a problem. Besides." She smirked. "Who says you'll win our race, anyways?"

Despite myself, I felt a little prick at my ego from her comment. I narrowed my eyes and, whether through pride or selfishness, cast my doubt aside. "Okay, then. Fine. So what happens if YOU win, since you seem so confident in yourself?"

Alice eyed me briefly. "I get to kiss you."

I sputtered. "Wh-what?"

"You heard me, Miss Swan," Alice said. "If I win," she took a step closer, "then I, Alice Cullen," another step, closing the gap between us, "get to kiss you. If you'll allow me. I won't without your consent, you have my word on that, Bella."

I stared into her warm, smoldering eyes. There was something in them - a lot of things, really, when I looked into them. Tenderness, kindness - a genuine shimmer of care, the likes of which I hadn't seen in a long, long time. Her lips were curled into a playful, yet equally serious smile, and I knew from reading her expression that she meant what she said, but not in a forceful way. My stomach felt light - my wole body felt light, in fact.

"Um." I bit my lip. "O-okay, s-sure."

"Do I have your consent to kiss you if I win?" Alice asked.

I would've been burning from embarrassment if I were human. "Yes."

She beamed. "Awesome."

I continued to gawk at her, this strange, attractive vampire. What in the world was she doing to me, getting me to agree to something like that?

"Now then," Alice said. "Rather than be my usual self, I'll wait until you're mentally prepared to go. You'll know where the deer are - they haven't moved, and if you're as fast as you're about to boast yourself to be… I'm sure you'll find them, no problem."

I shook my astonishment off. "How do you know I was gonna boast? I'm not the boasting type."

"You would've if I kept ragging on you," Alice said, fluttering her eyes. "It's a specialty of mine."

"...you really are an ass," I said - and yet, I couldn't stop myself from smiling at her.

"A sexy ass," Alice said with a dramatic bow. "Ready?"

I clicked my teeth together and came to stand beside her, as if we were at some invisible race line. I eyed her for a couple seconds, then sighed and crouched.

"I'm ready," I said.

Alice giggled. "Three. Two. One. GO."

We took off at the same moment in a burst of movement so strong, we kicked up dust and a tiny shower of debris.

For the first minute or so, we kept at the same pace, running at a speed that was faster than the average human, but not quite the level a vampire could TRULY move. For me, it was a habit, since I preferred to move at a speed that wasn't overly fast, as it allowed me to better focus on my surroundings while also enjoying myself. To see Alice moving at that speed, I wondered if she had seen the results through her visions - or maybe she was doing it to get a rise out of me? I had no clue.

"Not bad!" Alice said, casually as if we were discussing the weather or sports. "But can you go faster? You act like you can, so show me."

I grinned to myself. "Much."

I picked up my pace, moving my legs quicker, blurring my surroundings just a little. Yet the rush of adrenaline and excitement hit me at that moment - and knowing there were no humans - I knew there were no roads for a long while this direction - or hikers or campers in danger of seeing me if the trail was closed, I let myself revel in the speed to the fullest. One minute had passed by from the instant we started our race.

The wind whipped through my hair, brushing against my skin and my clothes. It was a cool, crisp air, full of the smells of nature - the grass, the dirt, the trees, the leaves, the flowers. I breathed in while I moved, soaking in the sensations as I ran, dodging around trees, jumping over small ponds or patches of wet earth. I was able to keep going without losing momentum, and I loved every second of it.

Seconds flew by. By then, another minute, two altogether.

I was aware of Alice's presence from hearing and smelling her, yet as those seconds continued going, I became increasingly aware of the gap forming between us. She was fast, that much I could tell without watching her, but I was able to push further ahead of her when I put my focus into it. The rush of freedom and moving fast pulsed through my whole body. I couldn't help smiling wide.

The weirdest - and coolest - part about having such speed at my disposal was the fact that, while I did have the ability to go from one point to another at a rate no normal person could, my brain processed it in such a way where I could still register things as though I were running at a more human pace. Not perfectly, of course, since at my fastest, I gained tunnel vision like a cheetah. But close. It made it so I could keep my senses peeled while rushing through the grass, and around the trees, and over rivers.

More seconds. It had been three minutes by this point since the race began, because I'd been counting the seconds in the back of my head with each step, and the fourth was approaching. Alice was nowhere to be seen at this point, which I took as a sign I'd be the one winning this race.

This just added more excitement.

I kept on moving forward, further into the woods, until at last after five full minutes of running at high speed, I came across the herd of deer she'd mentioned. The deer could sense me when I was far from them - they dispersed immediately. But being so fast, I was able to catch up rather easily.

I went after a doe, the one closest to me, and sprang upon her. The poor thing yelped in surprise as I gently grappled onto her neck. I spared her suffering - I snapped her neck in a brisk movement, then sank my teeth into her throat. The warm, rich blood flowed down my own throat seconds later, spreading warmth through every inch of me.

It lasted for only a short burst of breath - then, the deer ran out of blood. I pulled my teeth away from her neck and gently set the deer's body on the grass, closing her eyes - it was the least I could do to show some respect to the creature.

"Not bad."

I whirled around to find Alice casually leaning against a tree, a dead deer at her feet. She looked like she'd been waiting for me, her hair a bit of a mess and some dirt on her cheek.

I almost did a double take. Almost. "Wha…"

"I beat you by thirty seconds," Alice said. She gestured to the deer's body. "You can tell because this deer's body is a little colder, just in case you think I'm lying."

I stared at her. "But… how? I passed you and didn't even…"

I turned toward the direction I'd come from - the direction BOTH of us had come from, and breathed in. Alice's scent was strong, strong enough that I could follow it. It wrapped around the trees from a different direction, however. I stared, confused.

"How the heck did you get here thirty seconds before me?" I asked.

Alice strutted over to me. "It's a secret."

I just gawked.

She grinned. "Hot damn, though, I gotta give you major credit - you ARE super fast. You would've told me you were the fastest in the Volturi when you were still with them, and while I believed you, I didn't know how you'd stack up to me. Shit, Bella." She looked at me with an expression of admiration. "You weren't kidding. You made me try - I'd be sweating if I could."

"How did you beat me?" I asked again.

She fluttered her eyes. "I cheated… just a tiny bit." She nodded toward the direction I'd smelled her scent from. "There was a second herd of deer that way, closer than this one. I never specified how many there were, after all. You went after the one that was further from that, and since I already saw that, I angled myself in that direction at the two minute mark when you took off. But damn, it was close. I almost didn't make my kill in time before you, so, good on you for that."

I shook my astonishment off. "I can see now why your siblings might get annoyed at you…"

She giggled. "Hey, I can't help that you didn't smell the ones that were closer!"

"I guess so."

Silence fell over the area. We stood there, neither of us moving or speaking.

I looked away, feeling a wave of… nervousness? That baffled me, because why would I be nervous? That made no sense. Alice hadn't done anything to me worth being nervous about, so then why…

"Bella?"

I blinked. "Huh?"

Alice was in front of me, her hands behind her back. She looked… oddly hesitant for a change, not super confident like she'd seemed thus far since I met her the other day.

"I know that I won our race," Alice said. "And, in doing so, that means I won our little wager. But, I wanted to… change it a little. If you'll allow me, I would very much like to treat you to the shopping trip regardless. It feels only fair since you would've won had it not been the fact that I didn't tell you EVERY detail about where the deer were."

I bit my lip. "Are you sure? I mean…"

"I'm positive," Alice said. "It's not an issue at all, believe me."

I hesitated. Again, there was a part of me that was against the idea - accepting charity was one thing, sure, but this went beyond charity, and from someone I only knew for a single day! I wondered what Renee and Charlie would say about it if they were alive, finding their daughter being offered a full on shopping trip over a silly race and the killing of a poor woodland creature. Disgusted? Ashamed?

"Can I think about it?" I asked.

Alice nodded. "Yes, of course. I won't press, as I said."

"Thank you," I said. I would need time to consider it.

"Shall we go somewhere else?" Alice asked.

"Oh, uh, sure," I said. "Where do you want to go next? Or have you seen the future again to tell you where we end up deciding?"

She rolled her eyes. "Hush on that. If it's worth looking into, I'll be sure to tell you."

I glanced toward the direction we'd come from. "Alright, then. How's about we race back to my place before we plan where to go? And this time, no cheating, or using a shortcut, or trying to tell me one thing and conveniently leaving out another thing, got it?"

Alice grinned. "You got it. Scout's honor."

I waited for her to stand beside me, then crouched down. Alice did as well.

"Three, two, one, go," I said.

We took off at the same instant again. This time, however, I didn't hold back with my speed, and I booked it as fast as I could, dashing through the forest and running toward my house. I grinned again from the surge of excitement that filled me. It was like a wave running through my body, filling me the same way the blood had, only with glee instead of warmth.

Unlike the race to the spot where the deer had been, this race back to the house took a lot less time for me - from five minutes to two. That was me going at full speed, right after hunting. The blood likely helped me burst even faster than before.

I came to a halt in the front yard when I got there, slowing down with a bit of a skid for the sake of fun. It kicked up more dust, scattering it about, but otherwise, it was a clean stop. I dusted myself off once I was done and turned toward the direction I'd come from, waiting to see Alice, unless she somehow managed to get here before me. A quick glance and sniff around told me, no, she hadn't, and after another minute, I was proven right when Alice came dashing out of the trees, stopping in front of me.

"Fuck, girl," Alice said. "You're indeed a hell of a lot quicker than I expected. Faster than me, to be sure. Probably faster than a good chunk of my coven, except Liz and MAYBE Tori."

I smiled a little. "I kind of overdid it just to prove to myself I could. Er, sorry."

She giggled and waved a hand off. "Don't even worry about it. You did good. Made me eat some crow, to be sure, and I'm cool with that." She flashed a grin. "Believe it or not, it's nice to be humbled at times. I can get a LITTLE too cocky, another one of my less than savory habits."

"It was kind of cool to have to challenge myself like that," I admitted. "It was also refreshing to be able to do it in a way that didn't involve fighting… or killing. Er, mostly."

"Did the Volturi never let you?" Alice asked - she looked genuinely surprised.

"I mean, sort of," I said. "Most of the time whenever they allowed me to 'challenge' myself in a good way, it was tied to either training or to missions. I did go on a few missions during my years with them. To suss out and eliminate rogue covens, although I didn't do much fighting. I used my shield to protect the ones I went with, while the fighters kept me safe."

"But never did they let you have any fun with your abilities," Alice said.

I bit my lip. "Not really."

"Damn, that stinks," Alice said. "I can't imagine how DULL that must've been! I mean, we have so many gifts at our disposal. The strength, the speed, the senses, the durability… To not be able to use those gifts for fun things is just… gah." She shook her head in annoyance. "I'd be bored shitless if I was forced to keep my abilities hidden even when I was among other vampires."

"That was kind of the whole thing with the Volturi," I said. "Stay hidden, stay silent…"

"Lame," Alice said. "See, it's good you left. You're much better off being in a place where you can be yourself without any fear or hesitation, minus the usual stuff with keeping your abilities off human radars. Which is simple enough if you have a functioning brain, unlike the Volturi seem to believe." She snorted. "What a joke."

"Do you have any past experience with them?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Not like Victoria, no. Some of the others have, but I was somehow lucky to keep off the Volturi's hitlist or shitlist, as far as I'm aware. What I know of them is what I've been told. Granted, I may be biased since those I've learned from aren't entirely FOND of the Volturi, but, I don't need to be able to see the future to know they aren't as wholesome as they claim."

"Not all of them are bad people," I said, thinking back. "Some of them could be decent if they were allowed to leave. I don't know why Didyme hasn't helped others get away like me, but… then again, maybe it's because of my gift that it worked so well."

"Makes sense," Alice said. "When you can block out other mental gifts, and with your natural speed, it probably made you harder to track. Victoria's in a similar boat - she's fast and her gift is tied to surviving, so, she probably used that to evade them long enough."

I blinked a few times. "Do you know if they're still looking for me?"

Alice held a finger up and closed her eyes. She was quiet and still for about a minute before her eyes reopened. "Not right now. There's some potential for them to want to look for you - Aro and Sulpicia would like to have their sheild back and all. But, as of this moment, and for the foreseeable future, you're in the clear."

"...that's a relief," I said. "Thank you."

"No problem," Alice said.

We stood there in silence again. The wind blew past us, rustling my hair and hers.

"So, um, what now?" I asked.

Alice giggled. "Not one for making decisions, huh?"

"Sorry," I said.

"Don't be," Alice replied. "I'm just being an ass, Bella. I'm teasing."

I sighed. "I'm still adjusting to all this. I know I should be faster at it since, I dunno, vampire brain and all that nonsense. But it's hard to be alone for ten years after being with the Volturi for ten years and then trying to be… normal?"

"Take it easy," Alice said. "There's no rush for anything." She smiled sweetly. "There's no need to push yourself into any of this."

"I guess so, but, it feels like I'm stupid otherwise," I said.

"You're not," Alice said, her tone surprisingly firm. "Don't think of it that way. Anyone would be acting like this if they were in your situation. Trust me, I've been there, and I've seen it many times in my life."

I brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "Alright."

"To answer the question, though…" Alice paused and bit her own lip. "If I may… ask. We did have a wager before, for our first race, and while I did win on a technicality, I DID still win…" She took a step toward me, closing the gap between us. "Are you open to giving me my winnings?"

She let the question hover in the air. I stared at her when I remembered what she'd requested if SHE won… which she did.

"Do you… do you really want to k-kiss me?" I asked.

She smirked. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't."

"Why? I-I mean, you know, I'm fl-flattered and all, but, w-we just met and…"

"You're stinking cute," Alice said.

I felt nervous all of a sudden, but, then I remembered how… open vampires had been at the Volturi. This wasn't much different, only in that it wasn't in Italy, when I was trapped in an overgrown palace against my will. This was different. And Alice…

She was attractive. I couldn't lie and say she wasn't. And she was nice, too. Very nice, and playful…

"Okay," I said.

Alice was now directly in front of me. "Are you sure? I won't do it without your consent."

"Yes," I whispered.

She held my gaze for a few very long seconds before cupping my cheeks. Her touch was strong, yet, gentle, and after another few seconds, she leaned in. Her lips pressed against mine. And my entire world exploded.

Alice's lips were… soft and sweet. Her scent filled my nose, the taste of her lips just as strong, maybe even stronger. I gasped at how good she tasted, and how amazing it felt to have her lips pressing against mine. She kissed me long and hard, and almost immediately, I melted into her embrace. She went from cupping my cheeks with both hands to curling her arms around me. And holy hell was she muscular.

She was so much stronger than I thought, and I relaxed against her without even thinking. She deepened the kiss, and one of us - or maybe both of us - moaned.

Then, she broke the kiss. Our lips were still touching practically, and I stared into her eyes. Hers were warm and bright, her lips curling into a wide smile.

"Fuck me, you taste amazing, Bella," Alice said, her voice breathless.

I didn't know what to say.

Alice kissed me again, just as smooth and gentle as before. There was something about how STRONG her body and embrace were, yet how sweet her kiss was, that made me swoon. I just… gave myself to her in that instant, allowing her to kiss me to the fullest, for as long and as strong as she wanted. She deepened the kiss again, and I let her without complaint.

After another, briefer kiss, Alice broke away from me again.

"Wow," she whispered, giving me a quick butterfly kiss. "You're much more submissive than I expected, Bella."

I could hardly think straight. "I… I can't help it. You're so…"

"I know," Alice said. She kissed me once more. Her eyes hadn't changed, only growing a little darker - yet the intensity in them was mind-numbing. "And, so you're aware…" She pecked me on the lips. Once. Twice. Three times. "...I'm gonna keep kissing you until you tell me to stop."

I closed my eyes and swooned again.

Alice kissed me once more. This was so much better than… than any of my previous vampire kisses. I couldn't put words to it, but it FELT so much better, too. And so much more genuine…

Eventually, Alice broke the kiss again, and this time, she pulled away from me a little more, only for me to nearly collapse because I'd been so lost in the sensations. Alice caught and steadied me, pulling me against her again anyways. She smirked, yet her gaze was still sweet.

"Fuck, that was… that was a lot of fun, Bella. Thank you."

I was speechless. "You're w-welcome."

Alice ran a hand through her short, spiky hair. We both just sort of stood there.

"Well," Alice said. "That was a lot more intense than I expected, but, I am not at all sorry about cheating a little. Holy shit."

"D-did you… see us kissing?" I asked.

"It was a possible future," Alice said. "I'm kind of glad it was the one that came true."

I chewed on my bottom lip.

"So, about doing something else," Alice said. "Wanna go downtown with me?"

"I… w-well, I'd…"

"I'll kiss you again if you want me to," Alice said.

My stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies. "I'd like that."

"Shall we?"

 **A/N: The third segment for this commissioned series (mini-series?). Now, I know some people may raise their eyebrows at the kiss scene, and that's totally fine! It was an idea that came to me, and I do indeed aim to continue developing the characters/relationship between the gals while I write this. The commissioner, apdarkness905, quite liked it, so I was happy with the end result. :D**

 **As of this moment, I am thinking this series will be... about six to eight parts overall, depending on the person commissioning me. He has expressed interest that, if I wanted to, I could continue it on post-commission, but, right now, I'm unsure. I might, I'm not against it, but, I may just stick with it until we both feel it's reached a good conclusion. It's fun to write, and fun to get back into the old Bellice community after sooo long being on hiatus.**

 **Oh, and, to the reviewer who inquired about more development for Bella - yes, I plan to, rest assured. ^_^**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading and thank you for the feedback thus far. For this chapter, feel free to review if you wish, but don't feel obligated to, I'm just happy to be back. If you have questions, comments, concerns, feedback, or want to get me to write your own story, drop me a line, I'll answer when I can.  
**

 **Many thanks and much love,**

 **Hollow Pages**


	4. Part Four

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters by any means, I'm just having fun with them.**

 **Missing Pieces - Part Four**

Alice and I left my house for downtown at a rather slow, human pace. She didn't seem to be in a rush at all, and honestly, neither was I. My head was still spinning from the fact she'd kissed me with such overwhelming strength, and from how much I really, REALLY enjoyed the way she'd kissed me. I wouldn't have complained at all if she did it again…

"So, while we walk, may I ask you some questions?" Alice asked.

I blinked a few times. "Oh, uh, sure. Like what?"

She flashed me a big smile. "Well, for starters, I'd love to know more about you. I know some things, obviously, but, I'd like to get to know Bella the person. You being utterly stinking CUTE is plain as all day - but what's underneath the cute surface, hmm?"

I ran a hand through my hair. "What is this, kiss and tell?"

"Pretty much," Alice said, shrugging. "You didn't seem to mind it, though."

"I didn't," I admitted, and I knew I'd be blushing like crazy if I could. "But, okay. Um. What would you like to know first?"

Alice moved closer to me, so we were walking side-by-side through the forest. "Let's start with the easy stuff, huh? That's how people usually begin when they want to form friendships, if I remember right." She grinned. "What do you like to do for fun?"

Fun. Now there was a word I hadn't been able to apply to myself in a human sense for… twenty years. I looked away from her, turning my gaze to the trees, and thought.

"It's been a long time," I said quietly. "When I was with the Volturi for the first ten years of my 'life' as a vampire, I didn't usually get the chance to do very much that was 'fun.' But, going further than that, when I was still human? I guess I was more of a stay at home person when it came to fun stuff. I liked to read. I liked to write. I liked to draw."

"What did you read?" Alice asked.

"I was a huge fantasy nerd," I said, smiling a little. "Tolkien was my absolute favorite author of all time. And still is, I guess. But I also like Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and tons of the 'classic' writers. I'm also a big fan of sci-fi." I shrugged. "Funny enough, I was never a big fan of horror, either in books or genre. I didn't mind HP Lovecraft's work, of course, but actual horror? I dunno, I never cared for it."

"I can understand that," Alice said. "What didn't you like?"

"I hate pointless gore and pointless scares," I said. "Those things never interested me. And," I bit my lip again, "I was always kind of a… wuss, I admit."

Alice giggled. "That's totally fine. You'd be amazed how often you'd think a vampire would be big and bad and brave, but then you see that despite the fact we've got super strength and speed and powers, we've still got fears and flaws."

I turned to her, curious. "You seem so confident and strong. What are YOU afraid of?"

"Death," Alice said simply. "I'm also not a big fan of heights, and if I'm being completely honest? I don't care much for the ocean."

"The ocean, huh?"

"It freaks me out," Alice said. "This big, massive, deep world within our world? I know, being a vampire, I could swim across it pretty quickly and I'd be able to dive down deep without worrying about suffocating. But," she shrugged, "even though I'm semi-invincible, I can't bring myself to ever want to try it. Nothing COULD hurt me down there, I'm certain, but I'd still be freaked the fuck out the whole damn time."

"Huh." I nodded. "I think I'd have to agree with you there."

"You mentioned you wrote and drew, too," Alice said. "Any preferences there?"

"Oh, well, for writing, I was never all that good, but I did like to try writing short stories," I said. "I haven't done THAT in ages. And with drawing, I just loved cartooning when I was a kid. Drew cartoons all the freaking time when I was younger. It's been… a long time."

Alice frowned. "We might have to change that sometime soon."

"It's okay," I said.

She nudged me, her eyes smoldering. "You need to be able to do the things you enjoyed doing, Bella. You've taken a big step in your life in returning here, so why let yourself be miserable or sad? Fun's important! Believe me, I get that. We all do." She grinned wide. "You could come over to our place. We've got tons of books, lots of paper, and a lot of materials for you to draw with and on."

"Really?" I said. "You'd let me do that?"

"Of course!" Alice said. "Besides, we've all got hobbies like that, and some of us share the same one."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I'm an artist myself," Alice said. Her eyes sparkled as she linked her arm around me, pulling me closer to her. I didn't mind in the least bit. "I love to draw. I'm always drawing and doodling when I've got nothing else to do with my time. Jasper's a big reader, and so is Royal - those two tend to have their noses in books when they've got spare time. And Edward, when he isn't being a grump, writes. He writes poetry that's actually very thoughtful."

I smiled at this. "Cool."

"Oh, and we've got video games and movies and music galore, if you're a fan of those," Alice said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Rose, Liz, Tori, and me? We're SUPER fucking competitive in video games," Alice said with a devilish smirk. "We've got all the latest systems and we play them constantly. Rose is great at shooting games, I kick serious ass at fighting games, while Liz is more into puzzle and adventure games. Tori's the worst, the bitch." Alice snorted. "She's great at ALL genres. Not even seeing the future gives me an advantage. Hmph."

She made such a silly expression, I couldn't help giggling. She flashed me a big grin seconds later.

"Good, I got a laugh," Alice said. "You should come join us sometime. We've got plenty of video games for you to play with us."

"I was never good at video games," I said. "But I wouldn't mind trying. And watching."

"Perfect," Alice said.

"What about you?" I asked. "What do you like to do for fun besides look into the future?"

She chortled. "I'd have to stress that art is my biggest hobby. I was always fond of art when I was a human, but after I was turned and wound up with the Cullens? God, I've fallen in love with it all over again. It helps when you don't have to worry about sleeping like a human does - I've spent entire days in my room, working on random art projects that popped into my head. Of course, my favorite thing to do is go out, sit somewhere, and draw whatever crosses my path."

"What is it about art you like?"

"The freedom," Alice said. "I love art of all kinds, honestly. It's beautiful, it's fun, and it's wonderfully freeing when you can lose yourself in something you enjoy." Her eyes were warm as she looked at me. "I love creating. Whether it's drawing backgrounds, making up characters, or sketching people I see on the street, it's the most fun thing in the world in my eyes."

My stomach felt light at her words. I smiled. "That's… that's really awesome. That's the one thing I loved about writing and reading, honestly. I was never very good at drawing or painting, or any of the hands on sorts of art. But writing my own characters and stories, and reading good stories… I totally agree with you."

Alice's eyes burned with such intense endearment, it took my breath away.

Without a word, she stopped and kissed me. Her lips captured mine, and I swooned without even thinking. It was impossible not to - I leaned into her, letting her arms curl around me as she deepened the kiss. Her lips were so soft and firm…

'God, this is Heaven,' I thought.

Alice broke the kiss and smiled at me. "...fuck, I'm gonna love doing that from now on."

I stared into her eyes. "Are you… p-planning on doing that a lot?'

"Do you want me to?"

I bit my lip. "I think you know the answer to that…"

She grinned and pecked me on the lips. "Honestly, your reaction makes it incredibly fucking difficult to NOT kiss you. I mean, shit." She steadied me, her expression softening. "You swooning into my arms is… exciting, Bella. I really, REALLY like it."

I wasn't sure how to respond, so I just smiled at her, probably like an idiot.

Alice giggled. "But, let's keep going, shall we? I didn't mean to interrupt you talking."

"I wasn't saying much," I said.

It took us a moment to continue on walking like we had been.

It was weird to think about, in the sense that, when I was human, I'd never, EVER felt that sort of sensation before. I'd kissed people, sure. I'd been attracted to people. But ever since I became a vampire, how I thought romance and attraction worked seemed to fly right out the freaking window - my time with the Volturi taught me a lot. But this… this thing with Alice, with how she made me feel with barely any interactions…

It was like nothing I'd ever felt or experienced before. I was at a loss for words.

Alice linked her arm around mine as we walked. I tried not to lean too much into her, but she was so damn strong and… I don't know. It was maddening, really.

"You okay?" Alice asked. "You seem tense."

I chewed on my lip while I thought of how to respond. Honestly, I guessed. "I'm just… really stinking unsure about… all this."

"All this meaning…?"

I stopped, and she stopped with me, gently removing her arm from me.

"I hardly know you, and yet, we've already kissed, like, twenty times," I said, staring into her warm eyes. "But I liked it. A lot. I have never felt the way I feel when you kiss me, Alice. And I don't know what to make of it. I mean, before, I was always the sort to try and take my time when it came to relationships of ANY kind, but now…"

Alice rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to cause any turmoil for you."

"It's not that. It's just…"

"It's my fault, I know," Alice said, her voice soft. "I saw several possible outcomes for how things played out between us depending on the way I acted. I tried to… to not be so pushy, but." She looked away, shame crossing her features. "I-I… I couldn't help myself. Seeing you so many times, seeing the things I SAW with you, and with us…"

I blinked a few times. "What do you…" And then it dawned on me. "You saw us together, didn't you?"

"Yes," Alice said. "Vision after vision after vision of the two of us. Bonding, cuddling, kissing…" She shook her head. "I felt enamored by you before we even met, and when I saw there was a chance to kiss you, I just… took it." Her eyes met mine again. "I am sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable, Bella. That was never my intention. I know I'm doing this all wrong and out of order. If… If you'd rather be by yourself, I totally understand. I'll leave and won't bother you unless you actually want to see me."

I stared into her eyes for a long moment. "You know. As crazy as this whole thing is… I'm kind of wanting to see where it goes." I shrugged, biting my lip again. "For whatever reason, I'm not as surprised as I probably should be."

Alice cracked the tiniest of smiles. "I mean, it's kind of hard to get surprised when you're a vampire who lived with the vampire government for ten years. I imagine you learned and saw a fuckton of crazy shit while you were there."

"Yeah, pretty much."

Alice sighed. "So, are you alright with us continuing on?"

"Yes," I said. "Sorry to make you stop again."

She grinned. "The first time was inevitable. This time was probably necessary. Don't apologize."

"Okay."

We started going - again - together, but this time, it was a smooth flow from the middle of the woods to downtown Forks.

We talked the whole way, of course, about our hobbies and other things. She even told me a little more about her family.

"Liz and Tori are the most excited to get to know you," Alice said. "Tori's keen to know more about your time with the Volturi, and share more of her past. I think she's happiest having a kindred spirit that dealt with them. Liz is just thrilled in general. She's probably the most accepting of my siblings, and she's wanted me to find someone for a while now."

"And the others?" I asked. There was one in particular I was most curious about…

Alice chuckled, flashing me a knowing look. "Rose and Jasper are the oldest siblings, so they tend to be the most cautious. Rose is especially protective - she's been with Esme and Carlisle the longest, so she's basically the overprotective big sister. But they're not opposed to you, just wary. Royal is thrilled. He's the least concerned, I'd say, though he does kind of follow in Rosalie's footsteps. He thinks you're cool right off the bat."

"And… Edward?"

"Don't worry about Eddie," Alice said, bumping into me. "Despite his glum attitude when we met you, he's just super wary. Edward's been… Well, he has his ways with certain things. I think the fact he can't read your mind all that well is what bothers him most. He doesn't like it because then he can't alert us to anything dangerous should you turn out to be an enemy."

I frowned. "But I don't even like to fight, let alone…"

"I know," Alice said softly. "He's seen it in my visions. Doesn't matter to him - he knows the future can be a subjective bitch, so, he's on guard for now." She waved a hand. "Like I said, don't worry. He'll come around in time."

"What about your parents?" I asked. "They seemed… accepting." I thought back to Esme's words, and the intense warmth in her eyes when she said them.

"Oh, they already like you," Alice said. "Esme and Carlisle are wonderful people. They see someone by themselves and their first instinct is to try and bring them into the family." She giggled. "Esme is VERY adamant on you coming to spend time with us. She looks at you and sees a lost, troubled young woman in need of love and support, and she won't stop until you get those. Carlisle's the same, just a lot more subtle about it."

I ran a hand through my hair. "That's very… sweet of them to want to help me."

Alice just smiled sweetly at me.

By then, we made it downtown, the two of us walking casually at a human pace from out of the woods and across the road. I'm sure people noticed us - a few glanced our way - but it was mostly a look of either surprise or confusion since, well, you didn't normally see two people randomly come from the woods into town like that.

"What do you want to do first?" I asked.

Alice paused, putting one hand on her hip while she brought the other up to tap her chin. It was a little funny to see, but she did look like she was earnestly thinking.

"I was going to suggest we stop at the bookstore first, the one we met at," Alice said, glancing at me. "I kind of interrupted your browsing, and I feel a little bad about that."

"Oh, that's okay," I said. "I was trying to pass the time more than anything."

"Even so," Alice said. She looked around, then came closer to me, close enough for her lips to be inches from my ear. "If I'm honest, I like to stop in there all the time, to browse and to talk to the cute girl behind the counter, Angela. Not for myself, though. I'm, admittedly, sprinkling the seeds for a future I see on the horizon for her."

I looked at her with interest. "What do you mean?"

Alice smirked. "You're the first person besides myself to learn this, but, I've seen her joining our coven eventually. It's just a matter of days before the spark I've been slooowly preparing is going to ignite, if all goes well."

"For who?" I asked. "Edward? Royal?"

"Rosalie," Alice said.

I frowned. "Isn't she with Jasper, though?"

"She is, yes," Alice said, only to look at me quizzically. "Did you never witness any triads in the Volturi?"

I shook my head.

"God, they stink even worse than I thought!" She pouted cutely. "Triads are a thing in our world, though they are often rare. But they exist, and I've seen one forming between Rosalie, Angela, and Jasper. Rose is bisexual - and I know Angela's her type of woman, and that Rosalie is ANGELA'S type of woman. So," she crossed her fingers, "it'll be a fun evolution for both of them when the pieces fall into place."

"Huh." I nodded slowly, absorbing this. "And Jasper's going to be okay with it?"

"Yup," Alice said. "Jasper and Angela won't be romantic together, but, I have seen them bonding over a lot of other things. It'll work out beautifully, I'm just waiting for the moment when Rosalie and Angela meet each other and start to flirt." She rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to play matchmaker as quietly as I can, but it's not easy."

"Why do it, then?" I asked, more amused than anything.

"Because I'm an impatient asshole and I want to see the future go the way I want it to," she said simply, before snickering. "God, I sound horrible, but I do mean well." She winked. "Most of the time."

I giggled. "You're quite the troublemaker, aren't you?"

"Oh, fuck yes," Alice said. "And I'm amazing all the more because of it."

She grinned and bumped into me, but my body decided this was enough to swoon, and I fell forward. Alice caught and pulled me closer to her. I stared into her smoldering eyes, ignoring for a moment the fact we were in public, surrounded by other people.

She stared back into my eyes. "I am so tempted to throw manners to the wind and kiss you here and now. But, I know better." She smirked. "But make no mistake, Bella - until you tell me to stop, I WILL kiss you any chance I get."

"I'm not complaining," I whispered.

Her eyes sparkled. "Good. Anyways." She released me, though she stayed close to me. "I had a thought about something else we could do, if you were open to it - I did offer to take you shopping for some clothes and other necessities."

I bit my lip. "Oh, right. Um…"

"I won't overdo it," Alice said, holding her hands up. "But I think it would be fun to go to Port Angeles or Seattle and spend the day browsing for clothes. You can pick whatever you want out. It'll be fun, I think." She fluttered her eyes. "Please? My treat."

"Are you sure?" I asked quietly.

"Positive!" Alice said.

I sighed internally - I wasn't overly comfortable being showered with things by strangers. I loved gifts, and I loved being treated like any normal person would be, it was just the fact I hardly know Alice or her family enough to feel like it was RIGHT for them to be so nice to me. But, the sweet expression on her face and the smoldering in her eyes made it really hard to resist her…

"Okay," I said. "But how are we going to get anywhere?"

She grinned. "I got us covered."

She motioned me to follow her, so I did. We passed a few blocks before we came to a big parking lot area, and soon, we stopped in front of a black Dodge. Alice patted the roof and gestured toward the passenger side door.

"I planned ahead," she said, winking. "I parked my car here before I came to visit you."

I blinked several times, then narrowed my eyes. "You knew you'd be able to convince me to go shopping with you, didn't you?"

"I might have," Alice said.

"...you're a stinker, you know that?"

"One hundred and ten percent stinker," Alice said, bowing.

"Is this going to be a theme with you?" I asked, crossing my arms. "You plan ahead and sucker me into something with those eyes of yours? It's not like you don't know my answer since you can see the future and all."

She was in front of me in a flash. "Pretty much. Except, if my sultry eyes don't work…" Her arms curled around me, and she pulled me against her. "...I also have my impressively muscular physique that you swoon over so easily. And if THAT fails…"

She kissed me, strong and sweet. I melted into her without even thinking.

"...I just have to kiss you," Alice said.

I shuddered in the best way possible. "Master manipulator."

"I prefer to see myself as a sexy charmer," Alice purred. Her lips brushed against mine again. "I can't help it. I've never had this much fun before." She cupped my cheeks, her eyes so tender, it made me melt inside. "It's like I've fallen head over heels for you long before we even met, and now that you're here, I'm acting without thinking. You just have that effect on me, Bella."

I didn't know what to say. My chest felt light and I just… stared back at her.

She broke away from me slowly, her lips curling into a grin. "Just remember, Bella. If at any point I cross a line or make you uncomfortable, tell me. I don't ever want to push your boundaries, regardless of how I act or what I say. Okay?"

I nodded.

"Ready to go?"

"Y-yes," I said.

We got into her car and, without any hesitation, we were driving moments later.

Alice drove at the regular speed, and while a silence fell between us, it was a comfortable one. My mind wandered a bit at first - I couldn't stop myself from thinking about what I was doing and how crazy it was when I really started to think about it.

When I was with the Volturi, during my first year, I learned rather quickly that 'romance' and 'attraction' in the vampire world didn't necessarily abide by what I'd learned and felt when I was a human. Vampires tended to be very blunt and upfront about their intentions and their feelings - during my first month, I was hit on by countless members of the Volturi guard, male and female alike. It had confused me greatly, and it wasn't until Didyme spoke to me that I learned… well, the rules, so to speak.

"So tell me what's on your mind, Bella, " Didyme had said. "You seem troubled."

"Confused," I said. "About… w-well… I'm not used to the level of… attention I've been getting."

She smiled and wrapped her arm around my shoulders, walking with me in the Volturi garden - a massive, greenhouse like room filled with plants of all kinds, and even some wild animals that I was surprised to see, like species of monkeys and squirrels and birds. Apparently, they weren't kept to eat, but rather, as genuine pets to tend to and take care of. There was even a massive zoo somewhere in Volterra, or so I was told.

"It must seem quite foreign to you, I'm sure," Didyme said. "Love, lust, sexual attraction… These are all things we vampires feel as acutely as humans. But for us, the rules are a little different. Many vampires have essentially forgotten or thrown away the rules set about by human society - you'll find a great deal of our members will make their interests very clear from the start if they approach you in that way."

"I mean, I've been hit on in the past," I said. "But never like THIS."

She chuckled. "I dare say you'll have to get used to it. Unless you make it clear that you aren't interested in sex or romance, that is." She arched an eyebrow. "Do you see yourself as asexual or aromantic?"

"Well, n-no," I admitted.

"Ah, then, yes," Didyme said. "I'm afraid you will be getting many vampires who will forgo any sort of courting or subtle flirting. Subtlety is NOT a strong suit for our kind."

"Are there no rules about love for vampires?" I asked.

She looked thoughtful. "As Heads, we decided many centuries ago that love and lust and all other things within those realms were essentially open. The only SET rule is simply consent. No matter how old the vampire or where they come from, no one, and I mean NO ONE, is allowed to do anything romantic or sexual in any way to another without their genuine consent. And I don't mean implied consent, either."

I looked at her, feeling curious. "Really? But how would anyone know?"

"Oh, we ALWAYS know," Didyme said. "Many of our guard possess gifts that allow them to tell, and we all have eyes and brains and noses that work perfectly fine. We have, of course, witnessed brave fools who felt they could get away with trying to skirt past the law of consent. They did not live for long, believe me."

"Oh," I whispered.

"Fortunately, the last to do this was well over fifty years ago," Didyme said. "She was a trained guard who had a sort of… weakness for younger men. I warned her once that she needed to be wise with her desires, but she didn't listen." She shrugged. "Such is life for those who refuse to think correctly, I suppose."

"Jeez."

"At any rate," Didyme said. "Consent aside, there are no true rules. Sexuality is an open world for us, and so is romance. So feel free to experiment, my dear. As long as you are having fun and there is mutual consent, the sky is the limit, as they say."

I remembered that and looked at Alice. I had just met her, and already she'd kissed me many times, and I enjoyed every second of it. Now here we were, driving to go shopping, where she was offering to buy things for me. It wasn't the fastest relationship I'd ever ended up in, but it was definitely the most bizarre when I took into account the fact she saw the future.

Especially when she saw US together in the future… I still wasn't sure how I felt about it, or how I should feel.

"Care to share your thoughts?" Alice asked.

I chewed on my bottom lip. "I suppose I'm… I dunno. Still a little winded from all of this. It's so sudden, you know? I never expected any of this when I came back to Forks, yet here I am, sucked into a whirlwind I wasn't prepared for in the least bit."

Alice nodded.

"Sorry," I said. "I don't mean to keep repeating myself…"

"It's nothing to be sorry for," Alice said. "Don't apologize, silly." She looked me in the eyes when she stopped at a red light, her eyes swirling with intensity. "Why don't we keep talking, then, while we drive? You can start, if you'd prefer."

"Okay," I said, and I thought it over. "How old are you?"

She giggled. "I wondered when that question would show up. Physically, I'm twenty-five years old, not quite the youngest - that's Edward - but not quite as old as Rosalie, Jasper, or Victoria. They were all turned at twenty-seven. If, however, you're asking about how old I actually am from when I was born to now? I'm one hundred and twenty."

"Wow," I said. "So you were turned in the early 90s, then?"

"Uh huh!" Alice said. "And again, I am still sadly one of the younger ones. Rosalie and Royal were turned in the eary 1830s, Jasper and Victoria during the 1860s, and the Mason twins were turned a few years after me. Esme is the oldest - she's well over three hundred years old. Carlisle's close behind her, though, which makes sense since he was turned by her and all."

"I feel so young compared to all of you," I said.

Alice laughed. "You kind of are! You're practically a newborn still."

"Wha… hey!"

"That's what we call young vampires," Alice said teasingly. "The babies who only just got turned tend to act sort of like newborn humans. Learning how to utilize your new abilities, finding out what your gift is, learning how to hunt properly, and so on. It's not an insult! Well. I mean, not a full one." She waggled her eyebrows at me. "But you know, for a vampire that's only been around for twenty years, you've got good self-control."

I shrugged. "I kind of learned that when I was with the Volturi. Guess they make all their new recruits train so that the smell of humans and the smell of blood doesn't make us go crazy. It was… hard at first, but, I never liked hurting people in the first place, so, it got easier relatively quickly."

"You seem the type," Alice said. "That's a commendable attitude."

"I hated drinking human blood from live people," I said. "I hated it because the thought of killing made me sick to my stomach. I was never cruel about it. I'd always be as quick and gentle as I could be." I shuddered and hugged myself. "I'm super glad I found out about drinking from animals. I love animals, but, if I have to choose between the two…"

"Agreed," Alice said. "We all feel that way, us and our cousins over in Alaska. I've been told there are a few other covens across the world that abide by similar beliefs, only drinking human blood when they absolutely have to. It's a shame the Volturi don't agree with that viewpoint, though."

"Yeah," I whispered.

I remembered another time during the Volturi, when I spoke to Aro and Sulpicia about feeding from humans and why they only fed from humans instead of using animals.

"I just… We were human once," I said. "Doesn't it bother you to kill people to survive?"

Aro looked thoughtful at my question. "You know, there are times when I wonder this. I realize that, given what happened to your parents and to you, you likely wouldn't believe me when I say this, but, I do feel that killing humans for sustenance isn't always the best course of action. Rather, it is the only one that makes sense in my eyes, as we are essentially on top of the food chain."

"I don't even need to think that abstractly," Sulpicia said. She frowned, her expression soft, but something… odd in her eyes. "Humans kill each other over the smallest of things in today's world. For ages, they committed horrible acts of violence and savagery, and rarely was it ever for a genuinely GOOD reason. They kill each other and wrong each other as it stands, so what difference does it make if we do the same? Are we saints? Certainly not. But we at least kill to survive. That's a good reason in my book."

"But what if the people you kill have families?" I asked quietly. "What if you kill someone's mom, or dad, or brother, or sister, or lover, or friend?"

Aro's eyes shimmered with remorse. "It is a double-edged sword to live as we do, young one. There is no right answer for it. You will learn in time why that is - I believe that."

I grimaced. "But couldn't we drink blood non-fatally? Or, I don't know, drink from animals instead?"

"I would never," Sulpicia said. "The animal kingdom is sacred. The creatures of our world have been purged and massacred by humans for ages for their own selfish reasons." She scowled. "No, animals are too special. Endangered species should be preserved above all else, because unlike humans, and unlike US, they are not innately monstrous beings. They kill to survive, and only to survive."

She walked off without another word, looking flustered. I winced, wondering if I would be punished for upsetting her.

Aro shook his head gently. "You needn't fear her, Bella. Sulpicia is deeply protective of the natural world, perhaps a little… too much at times." His lips pursed. "You will find many of our kind here in Volterra believe as she does, that animals are pure beings while humans are not, and as such, it is okay to kill humans and not animals. Others disagree with this logic, and I dare say I can understand both sides."

"Do you not have your guard feed from animals because of that?" I asked quietly.

"It is… easier to lure in humans than it would be animals," Aro said. He tapped his chin in thoguht. "I know of several covens that survive off animal blood only. They hunt small woodland creatures or herbivores like deer, creatures that there are many of, rather than targetting the strongest or the rarest. It is interesting to see, of course, and I respect their lifestyle in living that way. Sulpicia… does not. Not yet, anyways."

I bit my lip. I didn't know what I could say.

"Perhaps in time, there will be a change," Aro said softly. "I have, over the past few centuries, gradually warmed Sulpicia and the other Heads to the idea of including animals within our diets. We could essentially create a farm for simple herbivore creatures, literal and metaphorical cattle, and survive off them, with humans being a rarity reserved for special occasions. Didyme and Chelsea are intrigued by the prospect, while the others are, admittedly, wary, but somewhat curious. Sulpicia is the most stubborn, but I love my dear mate too much to push her too hard."

"Thank you for telling me," I said. "I'm… sorry for asking."

He waved a hand. "Don't be, dear. You have a right to know like anyone." He sighed and looked at me somberly. "I wish I could do something to mend the obvious pain in your heart. I know that we caused you a great deal of grief, and I am eternally sorry for that. If there's ever anything we can do… don't hesitate to ask."

With that, Aro disappeared, blurring after Sulpicia.

I snapped out of my thoughts and shook the memory away. It was weird now to recall a moment where Aro seemed like he meant what he said, rather than trying to just tell me what I wanted to hear. Maybe I had been wrong about him, but, I decided now wasn't the time to think about it.

"We're here," Alice said.

I blinked and looked out the window at the massive department store looming before us.

"That was fast," I said. "I didn't know where we were going, so I kind of expected it to be a long drive."

Alice giggled and nudged me. "You were kind of daydreaming for a portion of it, you know."

"Oh. Right." I looked at her out of the corners of my eyes. "Lead the way, I guess?"

We got out of her car and walked toward the department store, a big JC Penny's. I recalled going there a few times in the past, but, I wasn't entirely sure, since I didn't tend to go to big department stores very often. Still, I wasn't going to complain. I was honestly kind of excited to see how this played out.

"You a shopping kind of gal, Bella?" Alice asked.

"Eh, sometimes," I said. "It depends on my mood, I guess. There have been days where I've spent hours at the mall, browsing through the different stores, or going to the clothes area and trying on hundreds of things to see if I liked anything. Other days, I only go if I HAVE to, and even then, I'm as quick as can be. What about you?"

"I'm right there with you," Alice said as we entered the store. "I love fashion as much as any woman, but I've got my days where I want nothing to do with shopping at all. I guess I lean more toward the 'spend hours on end at the mall,' though. I love to find new clothes or new styles and play around with them, either mixing and matching, or buying them and doing my own tweaks at home."

"So you're kind of a fashionista, huh?" I asked.

"Sort of," Alice said with a shrug and a smile. "I don't consider myself to be a hardcore fashion expert. That's more Liz's thing, I think. She's VERY trendy and in the know about styles all over the world."

We stopped and I glanced around at the mass of people shopping. This was the first time I had been inside a big department store in twenty years - it was a little strange to see this many humans around me, even stranger to think of them as 'humans' and not as 'people,' since I was a vampire now. What a weird mindset to have, I thought.

"What shall we do first, Bella?" Alice asked. "Check out the mall stores? Or browse for some clothes?"

"I don't have a preference," I said. "What would you like to do?"

She snickered and poked my nose. "Nuh uh, you gotta be the one to make the decision. I'm keen on either, but I want you to enjoy yourself, so you get to pick."

Her gaze was so sweet, I melted a little on the spot.

"Okay, then, I guess I kind of need new clothes…"

"Then clothing it is," Alice said.

We began to take our time browsing throughout all the options for clothes in the women's department. My main focus was on the shirts and tops first, followed by the pants, since those were the items I sorely lacked - what I had was twenty years old now, and even then, I'd gotten rid of a lot of clothes before that trip to Italy. What I brought with me for that trip was… gone. Long gone by now, since I'd left it all behind.

I lost track of time while I browsed with Alice. She stayed next to me, casually chatting with me while I sifted through blouses and jackets and vests and all the things, really.

"What's your favorite color?" Alice asked.

"Green," I said. "I love green more than anything - all shades of it." I pulled out a green crop top and admired it, then turned to Alice. "What about you?"

"A toss up between blue and yellow," Alice said.

"Yellow?" I giggled and wrinkled my nose. "I don't think I've ever met someone who actually liked yellow."

She snorted. "You sound like my siblings. Always poking fun of me because I'm the one freak in the world who likes yellow. I'll have you know other people LOVE the color yellow, thank you very much." She bumped me with her hip and grinned. "Yellow is the color of happiness and sunshine. It's warm and bright and obnoxious to the core, just like me!"

I giggled harder. "Sounds about right. But at least it isn't orange."

"Ew," Alice said, and her face scrunched up hilariously. "Orange stinks. NOBODY likes orange."

"I dunno, I'm sure some people do," I said.

"Yeah, people even weirder than ME," Alice said.

I laughed again at the face she made, and she grinned and bumped me once more.

"Have I mentioned how stinking cute your laugh is?" Alice asked.

I bit my lip. "Thank you. Do you mean that? Or are you just complimenting me because you know I like it?"

"Both," Alice said. "But especially the former." She winked.

I would've been blushing like a maniac if I were still human, I knew that. Alice was both ridiculously flirty and charming at the same time, and I kind of loved that she was.

A little while of browsing later, I had a cart full of clothes that I liked, but wanted to try on. I opted to go to one of the dressing rooms, which were empty save for the lone woman sitting at the counter, texting. I nodded to her and went in. No sooner did I have all the clothes set out to try on did I hear a knock at the door.

"Mind if I join you?" Alice asked from the other end. "I've got some things to try on, too."

My stomach fluttered. "Y-yeah, sure."

I opened the door and she walked in with a handful of clothes on her shoulder. She flashed me a bright smile and set them aside. I shut and locked the door, feeling a rush of excitement - and I knew full well what that excitement was for.

Alice removed her jacket and hung it on one of the wall racks, then looked at me.

"You waiting so you can see my sexy body, Bella?" she asked, her voice suddenly husky.

I stammered. "I-I-I, uh, w-well, um…"

She was in front of me in an instant. "God, I love the effect I have on you. You're so…" She shook her head, yet despite the impish smirk, her eyes blazed with only warmth. "I've never felt like this before you, Bella. Never."

I had no idea what to say.

Alice grinned and removed her top. I gasped. The excitement came rushing back.

Alice was… damn. Gorgeous didn't even seem to be a strong enough word to describe her based her physique alone, but, she was that and so much more. It was really just how fit her build was that utterly took my breath away - her body was beautifully sculpted, with very noticeable muscle all around. Her arms had wonderful biceps, and her ABS - dear God, she had a six pack and everything.

I stared, probably to the point where I would've been drooling if I wasn't at least semi-aware of how dumb that would've made my look.

"Wow," I whispered.

Alice gave me a playfully smug look. "Like what you see?"

"Yes…"

"Good," Alice said. "Gotta say, I kind of prefer a woman who likes my physique over just my tits."

My eyes flicked to her breasts, which, while covered, were on the smaller side. I didn't mind at all because they were still nice to look at. It was the whole package of her that left me standing there like a brain-dead idiot - I had, for years now, always had a weakness for toned women. Combined with Alice being taller than me, plus her short spiky hair and her angelic eyes… whoa.

"Happy with your eye-candy, Miss Swan?" Alice asked.

I chewed on my bottom lip and looked away. "I'm sorry. I don't…"

Alice was in front of me again, this time wrapping her toned arms around my waist. She pulled me in close, close enough where my hands wound up on her sides.

"Don't apologize for finding me sexy, Bella," Alice said. "You can stare and ogle all you want. If I didn't want you to, would I be in here, half-naked and flirting with you?" She pecked me on the lips. "You can touch if you want. I don't mind. And," she leaned in to brush her lips against my left ear, "there are no cameras in here. We've got privacy."

I shuddered again. It felt like there was a whirlwind raging in my head.

Alice uncurled her arms from me, but stayed right in front of me. I couldn't resist - I touched her shoulders first, feeling the muscle there, then trailed my fingers down her arms.

"How did you get this… this… ripped?" I asked.

She chuckled. "When I was a human, I had to take care of my parents a lot. We didn't have the money to hire servants, and both of them had health problems. So, with no son to do the hard labor, I did it instead. I didn't mind, either. I sort of enjoyed getting filthy and sweaty from working hard every single day, lifting things, moving things, and so on. It became almost second nature for me by the time I was in my teens."

I bit my lip again when I touched her abs, tracing across each one of her six pack. I trailed my finger around her navel, too - it was a cute innie. Alice shuddered when I did, and I stopped to look at her.

"My belly button's kind of a hotspot," Alice said. "Just so you're aware."

"Oh," I said, and I smiled. "Good to know…"

I brought my hands away from her, running one through my hair. Alice smirked at me, then went back to her clothes pile. I turned away, feeling a rush of something through my whole body - heat? Glee? Some combination of those, I supposed, but it was a wonderful sensation, and I loved it.

While Alice tried on her clothes, I decided to do the same.

I shrugged out of the long sleeved top I'd chosen to wear today, folding it and setting it aside, then removed my jeans and put them on top. When it came to fashion, I was… semi-knowledgeable about styles and colors and all of that stuff.

I had never been the kind of girl that spent a lot of money on clothes, or spent a lot of time worrying about how I looked or what to wear. I preferred a casual approach to fashion, going with jeans and graphic tees more times than not. I did like to rock the occasional blouse or cardigan or skirt, even a dress when the occasion called for it. I liked to vary it up whenever I was in the mood, which I was hoping I'd have the the time to do again now that I was away from the Volturi and their love for cloaks.

'I hope I never have to wear a dark gray cloak for the rest of my life,' I thought.

"Nice ass."

I blinked a few times and peered over my shoulder - Alice was checking me out rather blatantly, but in a way that filled my stomach with butterflies.

"Thanks," I whispered.

I turned and she walked over to me, her eyes raking down my figure with interest. Being checked out was something I'd grown used to during my time with the Volturi, so it didn't really bother me all that much, especially when someone as attractive as Alice was the one doing it.

"Fuck me," Alice whispered. Her eyes met mine. "You're SEXY."

I bit my lip sheepishly. "I mean, I… I'm not as…"

"I mean it," Alice said. She started to reach her left hand out, then stopped. "May I… touch you?"

I glanced toward the door to the changing room, then back at her. "Yes."

Alice brushed her fingers across my skin, starting from my neck, down to my breasts - but she skipped past those and instead touched my stomach, trailing down, down, down across my mid-section and waistline. Her touch sent an electric current racing through me, and the look of genuine admiration flattered me as well. I was glad I couldn't blush anymore - I'd probably be redder than any shade of red in the world at this rate.

"Your skin is so soft," Alice murmured. "I love how soft it is. You've got such a great figure, Bella." She placed her other hand on my hip and beamed at me. "I love a woman with curves like yours. It's so sexy, I mean it."

"Thank you," I said, beyond flattered by the sincerity of her words.

"Ooh." She stopped her finger at my navel. "You've got the cutest belly button I've ever laid eyes on, too."

I was about to thank her for that - odd a compliment as it was - when she pressed her finger into my navel. A surge of pure, utter heat blasted up my spine, and I gasped at the sheer intensity of pleasure it gave me. Alice froze and looked at me, her eyes wide.

"I'm so sorry," Alice said, pulling her hands away. "Did that hurt? I didn't mean…"

"N-no," I said. I was stunned. "Could you… do that again?"

Alice hesitated for a moment before poking her finger into my navel again - sending that same blast of heat through me. I trembled, but it was an amazing feeling.

"Wow," I whispered.

Alice giggled. "I guess your belly button's a hotspot, too, huh?"

"Yeah," I said, glancing down at her hand, then into her eyes. "I… had no idea that was a thing. No one's ever touched my belly button before."

Alice looked disappointed. "That really stinks. A belly button like yours deserves to be worshiped for how adorable and soft it is." She smirked. "Luckily for you, I've got a bit of a thing for belly buttons. And seeing how sensitive YOURS is just means I get to have even more fun with it in the future…"

I wasn't sure how to react to the husky quality of her voice as she pulled away from me.

I did bite down on my lip again. "A thing, huh? Like… a fetish?"

"Something like that," Alice said, shrugging. "Thank you, Bella."

She walked back to her clothes while I stood there, a hundred different thoughts racing through my head. I eventually snapped out of it and went back to the clothes I'd chosen. Yet while I began to look through them to see what to try on, I became aware of the cropped tops I'd chosen and decided to buy them without even trying them on first. My eyes flicked to Alice, and I smiled to myself…

We spent a while trying on different clothes - I was hesitant to buy too many since Alice was the one offering, but, she was very stubborn in getting anything I liked.

"Alice, you don't have to," I said, for the tenth time it seemed, later on when we were heading to the cash register to buy the clothes we'd chosen. "Really, you don't."

"I know I don't," Alice said. "But I'm going to." She flashed that beautiful smile of hers again. "I told you, I don't mind, and neither do Esme or Carlisle. This is a gift - a treat, even - for you, to help you out. It's not a bother, so please, don't worry so much."

I wondered if it was wrong of me to be so accepting of her offer to do this. Part of me felt it was, because I fet like a mooch, but the other part was grateful for her and her family's kindness toward me, even though I was a stranger to them still. And then, I wondered, whether or not I was a 'true' stranger in that sense.

'They knew my parents,' I thought. 'Hell, they knew ME, even though I didn't recognize them at first.'

And as I stood there, thinking, I realized that if Alice had seen me years ago, she would've told them about me. Which meant…

The realization hit me like a train.

"Alice," I whispered.

She held out a big bag with the clothes she'd bought for me, only to frown. "Yes?"

"You saw us together," I said under my breath. "Does your coven know? About… about what you saw of us?"

Alice's lips twitched. "Yes."

I stared at her. "I… I need a moment."

"Okay," Alice said. "Take all the time you need."

She walked off at a human pace, while I turned the other way, wandering until I found a place where I could sit and think. The reality that so many people knew so much about me before I even knew it… I was conflicted on it.

On the one hand, I was a little annoyed. I mean, surely I should've been privy to that information without having to think about it first or ask, right? And yet, on the other, it wasn't like the future was set in stone - and Alice had been very forward in telling me that she would never do anything without my genuine consent. If I had asked, I had a feeling she would've told me, but, even then, I wondered if I would've wanted to know had I considered it sooner.

I ran a hand through my hair.

My brain seemed stuck on what to think exactly. I was both fascinated and afraid of the fact that my future was apparently tied to these vampires, to the point where I was already swooning over and kissing the woman who had seen us together in who knew how many visions. Did that mean I had no choice in the matter? Was my agency stripped away from me, just like it had been when the Volturi killed my parents and turned me into an immortal monster against my will?

I… didn't know. I didn't have an answer, and that terrified me.

I had only known Alice for a day now, and we'd kissed a lot. She wasn't going easy or subtle on her flirting and interest in me, and I couldn't lie and say I wasn't interested back. My experience with the Volturi showed me that attraction was different with vampires, because there were less rules, less protocols on how to act.

I sighed. Was it wrong that I was so interested in someone I only knew for a day? Someone who saw us as a couple in the future, whose family knew about us in that future?

'Maybe I'm being paranoid,' I thought. 'Or maybe I'm being selfish? God, I don't know…'

"Bella?"

I looked up and saw Alice standing a few feet away from me. Her features were sheepish, and she kept her distance as our eyes met. She didn't speak for a moment, and neither did I, at least until I found the words.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I… I don't mean to be like this."

"Please don't apologize so much," Alice said. "I don't like hearing you apologize for things you have no reason to be sorry for." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm the one who needs to apologize. I rushed into this, and in doing so, I rushed you. I shouldn't have. I should've used my fucking brain and not let my own… desires get the best of me."

I didn't know how to respond.

Alice slowly walked over to me and sat down next to me on the floor. "I am truly sorry, Bella."

"I feel like we jumped into something way too fast, even for vampire standards," I whispered.

"Kind of," Alice said. "It's my fault."

I looked at her and saw her staring down at the floor. "Alice…"

"When I started getting more visions of you, I became interested in you," Alice said. "You looked like a really nice, cute girl, and I got excited at the prospect of meeting you. But then I began to get visions of us together, bonding as friends, and then, as lovers. I…" She closed her eyes and let out a sharp breath. "I fell in love with you, Bella."

I sputtered. "Really?"

"Yes," Alice said. She reopened her eyes and met my gaze. "I fell madly in love with you over the course of several months from visions alone. I learned so much about you, saw us doing so many things together. It was maddening. It was like the future was fucking with my feelings by showing me images of my dream woman, but I didn't know WHEN I would meet her, or even if I would. I've seen things that didn't end up happening before. It tore me apart inside.

"And then, when I finally saw you the other day, all my feelings came rushing back. The love I felt was so powerful… I did my best to reign it in, but I see I didn't do a good enough job." Her eyes shimmered. "I am sorry, Bella. I never meant to be like THEM. I never meant to make it seem like you never had a choice in the matter. You do. You always have and you still do. I'm sorry."

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. "I'm sorry, too."

"Bella, I told you, you don't-"

"Please, let me be sorry," I whispered. "It's a part of who I am. I apologize for everything. It makes me feel better to apologize."

She sighed. "Alright. There's no need, but, you're forgiven."

I stared into her eyes for a quiet minute. "So are you."

She placed her hand on top of mine and squeezed it. "If you'd rather we take it slow, or not go anywhere at all, I will respect your choice no matter what, Bella. I promise you."

"I think taking it slow is a little redundant now," I said. Despite myself, I giggled. "I mean, we've already made out a few times. And you let me feel your abs, and you poked my belly button, which again felt REALLY nice, so…" I smiled at her. "I think we should just keep going like we have been. Go with the flow, you know?"

Alice gave me a half-smile. "If you're sure."

"Yeah," I said. "I think I am."

"Okay," Alice said. "Shall we go to the mall, then? There's a bookstore in here, if you weren't aware. And an art store, too, now that I think about it."

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "You had me at 'bookstore.'"

Alice laughed, and we got up.

"Where'd the clothes go?" I asked.

"My trunk," Alice said. "And no, I didn't look into the future to see how this would play out, before you think to ask." She waggled a finger. "Give me SOME credit. I'm a stinker and an asshole, but I've got SOME standards."

"Uh huh, sure you do," I said, grinning.

She scoffed. "Ouch. You wound my pride, madam."

I giggled, and we made our trip to the mall. I decided to let my thoughts settle for now - I was having fun, and it was nice to have something to do besides sit around at the house alone, feeling sorry for myself. This was much better. And Alice was… incredible.

Maybe she was one of the things I'd been missing…

The mall was massive, and bustling with people, which quickly snapped me out of my daydreaming. It was hard to daydream and focus on not running into anyone, even when you were a vampire with super senses. I followed Alice either way, and she stayed very close to me, almost with an air of genuine protectiveness.

That protectiveness became even more noticeable when she wrapped her arm around me while we were walking. She pulled me close to her, and I let her without complaint - I didn't mind the fact she seemed to be keeping me safe, even when there was no need. I honestly sort of enjoyed it - it was nice to feel protected for once.

"There's the bookstore," Alice said, nodding toward the little bookstore in the mall.

I smiled. "Looks cute."

"Shall we?"

The inside of this bookstore was very warm and cozy, chock full of books like I expected it to be. The walls were a nice, woodsy brown color, and it smelled like books - one of my favorite smells when the books smelled fresh like this. I breathed in and sighed.

"I don't know how long I'll be in here, Alice," I said.

She giggled. "Seeing you happy is what matters most right now. Take your time."

Her words warmed my heart. I ran a hand through my hair and went about browsing.

Even though the Volturi library had been massive beyond belief, I had always preferred smaller, more intimate places like this. Bookstores, especially ones that were of the mom and pop variety, had more heart in them - I could feel it as I browsed the shelves with their books stuffed together, picking out anything that looked interesting or familiar.

I wound up hovering in the poetry section for a while after some initial light browsing. I was fond of poetry - Poe, Dickinson, Frost, Bradstreet, Whitman - and I especially enjoyed getting new, contemporary poetry books to get ideas for my own poem writing, as rare as that was. I got lost in a collection of fantasy-themed poems when I felt a presence beside me. Alice was there, watching me with a fond look in her eyes.

"I promise I'm not watching you the full time," Alice said. "I was just noticing you had this adorable expression of joy in your eyes. Thought I'd tell you how stinking cute it was."

I chewed on my lip. "You say that a lot, do you know?"

"Uh huh," Alice said. "Been a habit of mine. Picked it up from Esme, actually."

She wandered off with that, and I giggled to myself, returning to the poetry book I'd been eyeing. That was basically how the next two hours went, me browsing, getting caught up in a book, remembering that I couldn't buy it, then making a note to get it the next time I had some cash on me and setting it down.

Of course, I should've been paying better attention to what was going on. It shouldn't have surprised me at all that, when I was ready and trying to find Alice, she was at the front of the bookstore, buying the books I had wanted for myself.

I stared at her when I noticed. "Alice!"

She batted her eyes innocently as she took the bag of books. "Yes?"

"I… you…"

She nodded toward the exit, then walked off before I could finish my sentence. My stomach filled with butterflies, even though I also wished I could've bought them myself - or pitched in somehow.

"I won't do that often, I promise," Alice said when I found her in the mall. She grinned and handed me the bag. "I couldn't resist, sorry. You looked so invested, I wanted you to have what you liked as a gift. Gifts, I guess."

"Thank you," I said as I took the bag. "Thank you for these and the clothes."

"You're very welcome."

"Are we going to the art store next?" I asked.

"Would you like to?" Alice replied.

"You've been really nice to me today," I said. "I feel it's only fair you do something you want to do, Alice."

"I told you." She closed the gap between us and pulled me into her arms. I melted into her embrace immediately. "I want you to have fun and be happy. I do what you want to do, Bella."

"Well…" I thought about it for a moment. "Let's go to the art store and see if there's anything you want to get for yourself, then we can head back to my place?"

Alice released me. "Sounds like a plan."

Time sort of flew by as we went to the art store located in the mall. Alice became as interested in the various art supplies, sketch books, and - cutely enough - coloring books like I had with normal books. I browsed with her, but I was content letting her do something SHE liked. As flattering as her buying things for me was, I felt better knowing she got some enjoyment out of our time in the mall together.

It was late when we left the mall, well after seven at night. We got to Alice's car and drove back to Forks - it was a smooth, pleasant drive, one that was quiet, but a comfy quiet.

She drove right to my house this time and parked close by. Since we were away from civilization and prying eyes, we didn't hesitate to use our vampire speed to unbuckle, get my new things, and go to the door. The only time we stopped was at the door, when I paused to unlock it. Alice stood behind me holding the bag of clothes - the TWO BAGS of clothes, I mean.

"May I come in?" Alice asked.

"Of course," I said. I pushed the door open, and ushered Alice inside. She blurred in and dropped the two bags at the foot of the stairs, where I joined her. "One sec."

I grabbed the two and dashed upstairs to my room, depositing all the bags, then returned to her. She hadn't budged, and when I got back, she held my gaze.

"Thank you again for today, Alice," I said. "It was… it was the most fun I've had in a long time, even if all we did was have a race and go to the mall for a while." I giggled. "The simple joys are the simplest things, I guess, huh?"

Alice giggled back. "Yeah, it tends to be that way. And I'm cool with it. Also, you're welcome. I also had a ton of fun. I'm happy I got to spend it with you and make your day all the better."

Silence fell.

"What are your plans now?" I asked.

Alice looked thoughtful. "I've got nothing planned, really. Guess I can go home and hang with the fam, or do some drawing. I don't have any true preferences." She shrugged. "What about you?"

"W-well…" I glanced at the living room, where the movies I'd started were waiting, then looked toward the stairs where my new books were waiting. And yet, I hesitated. "I…" I grimaced, and felt a rush of emotion fill my chest. "Would you like to stay the night with me?"

Alice's eyes were tender, and she nodded. "I would be happy to."

I threw my arms around her without thinking. Alice's arms curled around me and pulled me close - I melted into her embrace once more, swooning without a care. She nuzzled into my neck, and I sighed.

"Thank you," I whispered. "I… I don't really want to be alone right now."

"I understand," Alice murmured. She kissed my cheek. "I'll stay with you for as long as you want me to, my Bella."

I looked into her eyes. "Your Bella?"

She beamed and kissed me. "Yes. My Bella."

"Your Bella," I agreed.

She kissed me again, and swept me into her arms, then carried me into my family room. We flopped down onto the couch together, Alice on top of me. She kissed me a third time, deepening the kiss. I closed my eyes and let her take control - it felt phenomenal, her on me, kissing me like this. I moaned against her lips and dug my fingers into her short, spiky hair. So soft…

"Mm." Alice broke her lips from mine, then nipped at my ear. "You taste so fucking good, Bella."

I shuddered.

Alice giggled. "Tell me something." She pressed her forehead against mine, her gaze warm and husky at the same time. "What would you prefer we do tonight?"

I stared back into her eyes. "What do you…"

"You know what I mean," Alice said. She pecked me on the lips - once, twice, three times - then hugged me tightly. "Are you interested in sex? Or would you rather do something else?" She smirked. "I'm content with either or, truthfully."

"I…" I bit my lip. "You know, if it's okay with you, I'd rather just… kiss and cuddle."

Her gaze grew heart-meltingly sweet. "Then that's what we'll do."

She kissed me and then shifted our positions so we were on our sides, Alice holding me close and protective against her. I melted into her without complaint, happy to give her full control. I nuzzled into her neck, and she showered me with loving kisses - it was incredible, dizzying, and tender all at the same time in my head.

"Thank you, Alice," I murmured.

"Anything for you," Alice said. "My Bella."

I closed my eyes and soaked in the sensations showering down onto me. It was going to be a good night.

 **A/N: The fourth segment in the ongoing commission I am doing for my friend apdarkness905.  
**

 **This one is more concentrated on the development of the relationship between Alice and Bella. I wanted to kind of let reality ensue with certain parts of it, and then go from there, so it feels a little more realistic and less of a flat out rush. If I need to improve upon anything, please, feel free to let me know. You don't need to review if you don't wish - a PM works just as fine.  
**

 **As a reminder, I am open for commissions. I've got at least one reader whose Jane/Bella commission is in the works, and that will be a VERY different story for me, so I'm looking forward to it. I've got another Bellice commission I'm working on as well. If you are interested, shoot me a PM, I'm always open. :)**

 **Cheers and love.**


	5. Part Five

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the concepts, except Elizabeth, I guess.**

 **Note: Some mild steaminess ahead. Nothing TOO graphic. That may be in the future, though...**

 **Missing Pieces - Part Five**

It was strange, spending a full night cuddling with someone. I'd never in my life, as a human or during my twenty year period as a vampire, experienced something like that, especially when the person in question was a super attractive, super strong, and above all else, super affectionate, woman I only slightly knew at this point. But, that's what I did, and I didn't regret it one bit.

Alice held me close to her for hours, the two of us snuggling together on the couch. She would switch off between giving me light, butterfly kisses to nuzzling into my neck or into my hair, breathing in deep. I didn't mind - I mostly nuzzled into her neck when she wasn't kissing me, her scent filling my nose. She smelled good - beyond good - and the fact she was so strong made me feel safe and secure.

Hours passed, but I didn't even notice until I became vaguely aware of the fact it was a little lighter outside. Even then, I didn't move. I was so comfortable with her…

"Mm." Alice brushed her lips against my forehead, then kissed me on the lips. "I have to say, Bella… that was a wonderful night."

"Yes," I whispered. She squeezed me tight, and I melted into her. "That was… That was probably the best night I've had in years. You're so strong and comfy, Alice."

She giggled. "I'm glad. Though I gotta admit, I've never spent a night just cuddling with someone." She smirked and gazed into my eyes. "Usually, it's either been a night of debauchery, or there was sex involved. Granted, it's a refreshing change of pace, and you smell wonderful, and you're so fucking SOFT. I love how much of a cuddle bug you are, Bella."

I bit my lip. "Oh, uh, th-thanks."

"I mean it," Alice said. She stroked my cheek with her hand, her touch tender and sweet. "Thank you for allowing me to hold you. It was pleasant, and I hope to be able to do it again."

"Well, we don't have to stop…" I whispered.

She beamed. "Oh, I know." Her lips pressed against mine. "Unfortunately, while we don't need to break away anytime soon, I do have some things I have to do today. I have to leave in… three hours, to go back home and help out." She paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. "You can come with me, if you'd like. Esme and Carlisle would love for you to visit and spend time with the family."

I blinked a few times. "Oh. Right. They… they all know about, um, us."

"In a sense, yes," Alice said. "They know that I've seen visions of us together." She shrugged. "But they also know that you are your own person, and they respect that. Though you should expect some… teasing from a few." She rolled her eyes. "And they'll probably, you know, poke at you a bit. Some more than others. Typical sibling stuff."

I looked into her eyes for a moment. "What's it like to have vampire siblings?"

Alice blinked. "Was that not how you saw the other Volturi guard?"

"I mean, not really," I said. "Some were friendly, but, I never really grew attached to any of them during my time there. It was more… sex than anything with the ones that cared enough about me to interact with me."

Alice scowled. "That stinks."

"Yeah," I said, shrugging, only to feel a wave of guilt hit me. "I mean. Okay, that's a little wrong. There were a few exceptions. One in particular… she was good to me for more than just sleeping together."

"Oh?" Alice looked interested. "Someone who treated you right, I hope?"

"Yes," I said. "She did."

Silence fell for a moment. I sighed to myself, and Alice's expression softened.

Alice pulled me closer to her, kissing me once more. "Well, to answer your question, having vampire siblings is probably no different than having flesh and blood siblings. I mean, we're not blood-related - not as a unit, anyways. Rose and Royal, Ed and Liz, they act with each other like your typical siblings. For one thing, Rosalie is very protective of Royal, perhaps more so than she is protective of the rest of us. But she's the oldest, and so, she's basically the vicious big sister that will threaten, maim, and outright kill anyone who fucks with one of us."

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat.

"Not you," Alice said. She stroked my cheek, her eyes warm. "She knows how protective of YOU I've become. So, don't worry. You're mine, and I will keep you safe until the end of time, my Bella."

I felt flutters in my stomach. "I really like it when you call me your Bella."

"I know." She grinned. "That's part of the reason why I do it. And because you ARE my Bella." She kissed me once more. "Back to your question, on the other end, we have Elizabeth and Edward. They bicker a lot, more than Rose and Royal, mostly because they have the complete opposite personalities."

"Edward seemed very reserved," I said. "Not as openly friendly as Elizabeth."

"Uh huh," Alice said. "Edward is very much more of a 'loner,' although we ALL know it's mostly an act." Her features softened. "He's… he's the kind of person who is wary of making bonds because of how he and Liz lost their parents when they were humans. He's never forgotten it, never really forgiven himself, even though it wasn't his fault. That's part of why he's so sour much of the time - a lot of guilt and remorse that he keeps buried deep in himself."

"Oh...:" I grimaced. "I… I see. I feel bad now for thinking…"

"Don't," Alice said gently. "You didn't know."

"Still," I whispered.

She pecked me on the lips. "Eddie can be a decent person when you get beneath his grumpy exterior and the insecurities. Liz is one of the few people who knows how to peel back those layers. True, she gives him shit more than the rest of us, but she does look after him, and they love each other. They're both just too stubborn and full of themselves to ever actively admit it."

I smiled a little. "Liz was super chill when I met her."

"She is," Alice said with a giggle. "She and Tori have their flaws, as we all do. Oh, just be wary, you MAY see some possessiveness between them. It's nothing personal, and I doubt you'll see much of it since you're mine and all, just be wary."

"Will you be possessive of me going forward?" I asked.

Alice nodded, although there was a bit of hesitation in her eyes. "Yes. Unless you tell me otherwise, I… I will likely be possessive of you. It's, uh, harder to control, but…" She chewed on her bottom lip. "Truthfully, I wouldn't be so… forward with my possessiveness were you not so open to it. It's kind of nice to be open with how I feel, though."

"Is possessiveness a big thing for vampires?" I asked.

She looked thoughtful again. "To a degree, I suppose. It's not uncommon to be somewhat possessive of one's mate, in my experience. Victoria is possessive of Liz, Rosalie of Jasper, Esme of Carlisle, me of you…" Alice blinked a few times and giggled. "Funny, it seems us ladies are more openly possessive. Though I'm sure the men feel the same way."

I let that sink in as I lay in her arms. "Interesting. You were saying about your siblings?"

"Oh, yes, right," Alice said, giggling once more. "They are like your average siblings. We spend time together, we argue, we butt heads and disagree, and so on, but at the end of the day, we're family, and we love one another. I would kill to keep them safe, as they would for me. We look after one another, just as often as we poke and prod at one another."

"Anyone you're closer to?" I asked. I couldn't help it - I was curious.

"I'd like to say I'm close to all of them about equally," Alice said. "But, that'd be a bit of a fib. I suppose I'm closest to Rosalie and Victoria. Ironic, since we three are the most pigheaded of the Cullen kids. We bicker the most, and we're always trying to outdo the other. Suppose that's part of the reason. It's kind of fun to compete."

I furrowed my brow. "Compete?"

"Oh, sure, in all things. Video games, races, board games, fighting…" She giggled impishly. "Nothing too severe, mind you, and half the time we end up laughing off our losses. I think the most fun competition is when we combine drinking with gaming. Shit, you should've seen us the last time we did that two weeks ago. We got so shitfaced, we sucked royal ass at Mario Kart. It was hilarious."

I giggled at the face she made. "Sounds like you guys have a lot of fun."

"We do," Alice said. Her eyes shimmered. "And you are most welcome to join us."

"I'd… like that," I admitted.

Alice planted her lips on mine several times in a row before shifting out positions so she was on top of me. I didn't protest in the least bit - I happily gave her control as she kissed me more vigorously, deepening her kiss as she pinned me - gently - to the couch. I sighed against her lips. It was so ridiculously freeing to give her control, and the fact she was so warm and strong and tender made it all the better.

Alice broke the kiss after a moment, sighing. "Fuck me, I will never get used to how good that feels." She brushed her lips against mine, then pressed our foreheads together. "Words can't describe it, Bella…"

"You must be into BDSM, huh?" I asked, feeling a little breathless despite the fact I was a vampire and didn't really NEED to breathe.

Alice laughed and rolled onto her side. Her arms pulled me back to her body, and I smiled as I melted back into her embrace.

"You know, it's strange," Alice murmured. "I do get off on the dominance part, but not so much the other elements. I just…" She bit her lip. "You know, I've always had this… desire for a mate who was more… submissive to me, I suppose. I liked the thought of a lover who could trust me enough to give me complete control over her. The sense of power and ownership, knowing she was MINE and only mine… I fantasized about it."

I held her gaze. "Did you see me being that kind of woman?"

"...yes," she said, her tone softer. "I, uh, would be lying if I said I didn't see visions of that. It was little things, really. Your posture, your body language, and then, when we met, I could really feel it." She looked away from me for a few seconds. "But, again, I can't stress enough that-"

"Alice," I said. "I… I like it. I like that you're in control. I like that you're dominant. And I like that you're a bit possessive. I know we're sort of jumping into this, and it's still a lot for me to process, but, I just feel RIGHT when I'm with you. I feel safe."

Her eyes were so beautifully sweet as she cupped my cheeks. "Because you ARE safe. I swore when I realized what the future held that I would do nothing BUT protect and love you, Bella. You became the center of my world - you and my coven, you're the people that mean the most to me. Even if you hadn't accepted me, even if you wanted to be friends or to not know each other at all, I would've kept my eyes on you, to ensure you were protected, to ensure you found someone who could take care of you."

"Guess that's you after all," I whispered, smiling.

She grinned. "As it should be." She winked, then gave me a gentle squeeze. "But, hey, we don't need to talk about this. We can talk about anything, or nothing, if you want. I keep yammering on and on, and I realize you've probably got other things on your mind."

"Well, I mean, you did say you had errands to run, or something like that?"

"True, true," Alice said. "I also said that wasn't for a little while."

"You did."

I mulled it over, the possibilities of what we could do. Obviously, the idea of going to the Cullen house was both enticing and terrifying - knowing that they all knew I was apparently meant to be Alice's mate was… I didn't know what, really. It was a lot to think about. Even after what happened the other day, I was still soaking in the notion.

I liked Alice. I mean, it was obvious considering the fact I'd spent a full night snuggling with her, letting her kiss me and hold me so closely. And I did mean what I said about honestly liking her protectiveness, her possessiveness, and how dominant she was over me. I'd always sort of been drawn to strong, alpha women like that, even when I was a human. It was part of the reason why…

"Bella?"

I blinked a few times. "Huh? Oh, sorry. Mind wandered."

"You don't need to apologize for that," Alice said gently.

I nodded. Despite how comfortable her arms were, I decided now was a good time to get off the couch. I gradually pushed away from her, at first wondering if she would allow me to - but the look Alice gave me as I did was one that told me, as if she knew what I was thinking, that she wouldn't do something like that. So, I sat upright and got to my feet. Alice remained on the couch, watching me with interest.

"Would you like to come with me to visit my family?" Alice asked. "You're welcome to stay for as long or as little time as you want. No one would force you to stay, nor would they force you to go. You'd just have to deal with Eddie being a bit of a grump, but, like I said, he'll lighten up."

"It'd be nice, I guess," I said. "Beats being lonely."

Alice hopped up and grinned. "You know I'd never leave you if you asked me not to, right? Or have I not made that clear yet?" She frowned. "Have I? These past two days… Jesus, has it only been two days? See, this is what stinks about being able to see the future sometimes, you lose track of what time even IS a helluva lot, I swear."

I giggled at her. "I mean, I'm pretty sure this is the plot of some really crappy rom-com in the making, but, I kind of don't care at this rate. It's been fun being with you."

"And we haven't even had sex yet!" Alice said.

My face would've been on fire were I human. I ran a hand through my hair and looked away. "Er, y-yeah, that's right."

"My bad," Alice said. "Not pressing on that, believe me. It's just a statement." She nudged me, her expression a placid one. "I've got experience with one night stands is all. And two night stands. A few multi-week stands. And one… three-ish month stand."

I gave her a look.

Alice rubbed the back of her neck, looking oddly sheepish for once. "I met a woman a year-and-a-half back. She was… sexy. And we just sort of hit it off. Like, insanely well, especially in the bedroom."

"What made you break it off?" I asked.

"She wasn't you," Alice said.

I wasn't sure what to make of that, but the way she said it - with a confident, sweet tone, and her eyes smoldering - I sort of felt my insides melt. I nearly swooned again, but Alice steadied me. She had such strong hands…

I cleared my throat. "Uh, right. I guess…" Something occurred to me as we stood there, so close together, and I flicked my gaze to the stairs. "You know, I think I'll go take a shower first. Clean up just in case, you know."

Alice's expression turned to one of amusement. "In case what?"

"You know," I said, shrugging. "In case I smell."

Alice snickered. "Bella, you always smell. So do I. We're vampires, it's kind of a natural thing for us at this rate."

"Right, but, if we don't, uh, bathe…"

"We stink," Alice said. "I know." She snickered once more. "I'm teasing. God, you are so stinking CUTE and innocent, I swear. Pun not intended." She winked. "This time, anyways."

I rolled my eyes. "I mean, it makes sense, right? We are technically… corpses."

Silence fell. Alice eyed me quizzically.

"I've never looked at myself as a corpse, actually," Alice said. "True, we're cool-skinned, and our hearts don't beat, so we don't produce blood like anymore. But we're 'alive' in our own way, aren't we? I can think, and speak, and drink, and feel. I can cry. I can smell and hear and see." She reached out and brushed my hair aside, sending little tingles through me. "I can touch, too."

"Y-y-yeah, that's, uh, that's true," I said.

Alice just smirked. "I get your meaning, though. And like I said, you ARE right. But I prefer to think of it less as us stinky corpses that rot over time to simply giving off musk that becomes more pungent until we bathe. Anyways, if you want to go clean off, it's your house. I'll stick around down here, if you prefer. Or," her voice lowered, and she suddenly spoke with a husky tone, "I can join you. Your choice."

I froze, speechless.

Alice's smirk grew, and we both stood there, silently, for a solid minute or two.

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and felt a rush of excitement in the pit of my stomach. "Um. M-maybe."

"Let me know," Alice said. "You just have to decide it, really, and I'll see."

I stared at her, lingering there for a few seconds longer, before I made myself go upstairs. Her husky voice echoed in my head, and I felt a rush of heat through my body, but I tried to concentrate on not messing up the simplest of tasks in getting into the bathroom, removing my clothes, and stepping into the shower.

This was crazy.

I mean, it was really, truly, crazy to think that, three days ago, I was by myself, and now, there was an attractive woman who was genuinely infatuated - or rather, IN LOVE - with me, chilling in my otherwise empty house, who had made it clear she wanted me as hers and was eager to make love to me. And I was flattered by it. She was sweet and confident, yet she obviously gave me a choice in whether I wanted her in any way, shape, or form. She wasn't pushing me, or forcing herself onto me. It wasn't at all like so many of the vampires in Volterra.

Hot water began pouring down onto my body. I'd showered the other day, that was true, but I'd made it a relatively quick one. This time, I figured there was no harm in taking a bit more time, especially when I enjoyed how the water felt on my body.

When I was human, I'd always loved showers. My parents would both joke that I took a long enough shower for three people, and that was true. I loved the sensation of warm water on my body, how soothing it felt, and I kind of just loved to wash and clean myself. The smells of the soaps and the shampoo I tended to use, the way my skin and hair felt after stepping out and drying… it was weird, sure, but it made me happy.

And of course there was blowdrying, which I often used as an excuse to let my mind wander. I danced around, admittedly, while I dried off, usually getting lost in whatever fantasy my brain decided to conjure up at the time.

I sighed and pushed those old thoughts aside. Instead, though, my brain went to Alice, more specifically to Alice's… offer.

It was tantalizing. There was no sense in lying. She was just… sexy. I'd be lying to myself if I felt otherwise. I loved her muscled physique, her short, spiky hair, her warm eyes - but it wasn't just the way she looked that drew me into her, it was how she spoke, and how she acted around me. Confident, dominant, protective…

I stood under the water, letting the warmth surround me, as I thought. In the end, it wasn't like I had anything to lose, and it was clear we were both attracted to one another. And I'd already spent the night snuggling with her while she kissed me. We'd made out like crazy after a single day, so we'd already broken the typical relationship conventions. What was the point in not breaking what little remained?

So, I… decided I would come and get her. Or at least open the door for her. I wasn't sure how it worked, exactly, with her visions, but…

The sound of the door opening and shutting stopped my train of thought. I turned as Alice appeared outside the shower stall, standing there. I blinked a few times, then slowly opened it - my eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets when I saw she was already naked, her hands on her hips and a big smirk waiting on her face.

"Hey," Alice said.

I was thankful in this moment that my heart couldn't beat, or else it probably would've tried to burst out of my chest at seeing her like this. My stomach filled with butterflies, and again, that rush of excitement filled my body. I stared, at least until I realized I was staring.

"Mind if I join you?" Alice asked.

I bit my lip and nodded.

Alice giggled and stepped into the shower, closing the sliding door behind her. For a moment, we stood there, naked under the hot water together. Alice held my gaze, her eyes giving off only tenderness. She reached out and stroked my cheek with one hand while the other rested on my hip.

"So," Alice said. "Have you washed yet?"

"N-no," I said.

"Good."

Her lips latched onto mine seconds later, catching me by surprise. But I relaxed easily and let her press me against the wall, Alice deepening that kiss without hesitation. It lasted for about a minute or so, maybe two, before she broke away and grinned.

"May I wash you?" Alice asked.

"Yes," I murmured.

Alice was swift in grabbing a bottle of shampoo - a new one I'd purchased the other day while I was grocery shopping, in fact - and squirted some onto her hands. With a grin, she began running her lathered hands through my hair, slowly working her fingers through it. I leaned against her as she did, closing my eyes. It was like a scalp massage - and I'd always liked scalp massages.

"You have such luscious hair," Alice said into my ear. Her voice sent a shiver up my spine.

Her fingers ran smoothly through my hair, up and down, several times while I leaned into her. Her touch was firm, yet also delicate, even when she dug in or applied a bit more pressure. It felt amazing.

"I had long hair once," Alice said. "I hated it on myself, though. I spent almost two years letting it grow to my shoulders, then chopped it all off after a week. But you… it's so sexy on you. So soft, and pretty. It suits you much better than it does me, I think."

"I like your hair," I said, without opening my eyes. "I've always had a weakness for women with short hair."

Alice giggled and nipped at my ear. "Good. Keep your eyes closed."

I did, and I soon felt the water back on my head, running through my hair. I sighed, feeling content as Alice practically carried me despite the fact we were both standing together in an enclosed space. Strange, sure, but it was freeing all the same for me.

After, Alice broke away from me. I kept my eyes closed, since my ears and nose told me she was going for the body wash next. I could smell the strawberry-scented soap, and heard her squeeze the bottle. I stayed where I was, waiting until she returned.

Alice didn't say a word as she began to use her hands to lather my body, staring at my neck, and working their way down my arms. She moved slowly, sweetly, moving at a loving pace while I stood there in silence, trying not to move or speak. Her body moved closer to mine, our breasts touching - her fingers slide down to my fingers, coating my hands in soap, before moving back the underside of my arms until she reaches my shoulders again.

"Relax, my Bella," Alice said. "You don't need to stand so still and tense."

"Sorry," I whispered.

She brushed her lips against mine. "Don't apologize. You are mine, and I wish to pleasure you to the fullest. Don't be afraid that moving will upset me. You can move, or talk, if you want."

"Okay," I said.

"Just keep your eyes closed for me," she said.

I nodded, and Alice continued trekking her hands down my arms, this time moving under my arms. I would've giggled were I human - my armpits had been, unfortunately, ticklish when I was human, but now, it didn't tickle, though the memory of that made me smile. Then, Alice's fingers dragged down my sides, before shooting back up to my breasts.

"Beautiful," Alice said.

She soaped my breasts, her touch still slow and tender, yet she didn't hesitate to grope my breasts, to my surprise. I gasped when she gave them a squeeze, but I smiled again after, letting Alice do this several times. What surprised me more, though, was when she pushed me back a little, allowing the water to pour down on me, rinsing my arms and upper chest area.

That was enough for me to open one eye to look at her.

Alice just grinned. "Hey, now. I asked you to keep your eyes closed."

"I'm wondering what you're doing, that's all," I said.

"Taking my time enjoying your voluptuous body," Alice replied.

I bit my lip, but didn't respond to this, though I felt the butterflies in my belly grow in strength. I closed my eyes, and Alice moved behind me, trekking her soapy hands down my backside now. Her fingers kneaded into my back, massaging it, my shoulders, and my hips, while she stood there. It was hard not to lean into her, though Alice didn't seem to mind since she pressed closely against me.

Her hands continued down to my rear, squeezing it as she went. I didn't gasp from this since I'd sort of expected it, though I did giggle. She wasn't very subtle about what places she was clearly enjoying the most on my body.

"You've got a great ass, sue me," Alice said, though she giggled with me.

"I thought you were more into the midsection?" I asked.

"I am," Alice said, inching her lips next to my ear. "That's why I'm saving it for last."

Alice then went right back to lathering my body with soap, dropping down to the backside of my legs, all the way to my ankles. She jumped up when she was finished and positioned me under the water again, rinsing off her handiwork. It was actually kind of nice to have someone washing me like this - it was a first, and I honestly hoped it wouldn't be the last time this happened, either.

"Now then…" Alice said, almost a whisper.

Her hands returned to my breasts, which she lathered once more and squeezed. I couldn't help laughing. "You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?"

"I mean, when you've got a woman with fantastic tits in front of you, and she's letting you do what you want without question… Wouldn't YOU grope her boobs, too?"

"Probably," I admitted. "I think almost anyone would."

"True enough."

But then she moved her hands down, down across my stomach. Her left hand began to draw patterns onto my stomach using the soap, while the right went lower, to my thighs. I could FEEL her there, feel her gaze on me as though she were boring a hole through my body, but before I could question it, she dropped, bringing both hands to my thighs, then lower, down the front of my legs, from knee to calf to ankle to toes.

Again, I would've been giggling hard were I human - my feet, dear God, my poor feet had been SO ticklish then. It was nice to not feel that urge to flinch and laugh now.

"You have really cute toes," Alice said.

I almost fell from the randomness of her comment. "That's a new one. Thanks."

Alice chortled. "I'm serious. They're cute. And the way your feet are shaped… They're so soft and delicate, which I mean as compliments."

"Do you have a foot fetish, Alice?" I asked.

"A low-key one, I'd say," Alice said, as though she were commenting on the weather.

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times. "Really?"

Alice nodded, grinning up at me. "Don't give me that face, Bella. Come on, you can't honestly think we vampires are exempt from kinks and fetishes. When you live for hundreds of years, you kind of pick up on common and even uncommon sexual activities. There's no shame in it, either, so long as they're consensual and fun." She motioned me on. "Close your eyes, please. I'm almost done."

I couldn't stop myself from smiling at the goofy grin she flashed, but I obeyed, and closed my eyes, hopefully for the last time. I enjoyed the sensory enhancement, but, I also wanted to finish the shower so we could… do more together.

Alice trailed back up, back to my stomach. Her hands lightly lathered my stomach area up, stopping only once to dip her finger into my navel. A jolt of electricity pulsed up my spine, eliciting a moan from me almost on reflex. Alice swirled her finger around inside my navel for a long, long few minutes, before she stopped and brought the water back onto me.

"Fuck," Alice breathed.

Once I was rinsed, Alice curled her arms around me, pulling me against her body. She kissed me, and I let myself swoon, melting into her embrace like every other time.

"Thank you," Alice said when she broke away. "That was fun."

I opened my eyes and saw her looking at me with genuine warmth. "I enjoyed it, too. Thanks."

"Your belly button is super stinking cute," Alice said. "Thought I'd remind you of that."

I giggled. "Thanks, Alice."

"I'll let you finish your private bits," Alice said. "I might be many things, but I know better than to assume a woman's hoohaw is to be touched so soon."

"Hoohaw?" I laughed, almost slipping in the shower. "Seriously?"

"Isn't that what some women call it? Hoohaw? Hoonanna? Hoonanie?"

I tried hard not to burst into a fit of giggles, but the way she looked so earnestly thoughtful made that impossible. She steadied me, and beamed at me as I calmed myself.

"You're funny, Alice," I said. "And you're cute, yourself."

"I know," Alice said. "But I appreciate it nonetheless."

That was essentially the end of our shower together, as Alice actually excused herself from the shower and left the bathroom. I finished washing my private spots, rinsed fully, then stepped out and dried off. It didn't take long for me to find Alice downstairs, dressed again and sitting on the couch, her cell phone in hand.

"Yes, Rose, I'll be there soon," Alice said. "Bella's going to be coming over as well, so if you'd please let the others know, and tell them to behave themselves?"

I heard laughter from the other end of the phone.

Alice rolled her eyes. "That's what I thought. Love you, bitch. See you soon."

She put her phone down and motioned me over. I blurred over to sit beside her.

"I take it they aren't going to be 'behave' like you asked, huh?" I asked.

She snorted. "Fuck no. They never do. Esme and Carlisle will keep them in line as best they can, but they have jobs, so, they can't always be around. But don't mind that, they'll be good to you." She shrugged. "Would you like to hang here for a while longer? Or, if you prefer, we could walk to my place? Driving is nice, and running is fun, but I love taking my sweet time when I've got someone to talk to."

"I'd like that," I said.

She smiled wide and exited my house at a casual human pace. I followed after her, though not before double checking to make sure the doors and windows were locked. I locked the front behind myself and stuck the key into my pocket, then joined her a few feet away, near the driveway.

"Why do you lock up?" Alice asked, her expression one of genuine curiosity.

"Old habits," I said. "My parents… They'd both dealt with break-ins in the past, which is part of the reason why they moved out here, further away from the town. Plus, even though I'm a vampire now, I don't want anything to happen to this place, or any of our old belongings. I still have to figure out what I plan to do with, well, all of it."

"I understand," Alice said.

She motioned me on, and we linked arms almost reflexively as we began walking. The weather was nice out today - the sun wasn't out, at least not fully since the clouds took up most of the sky, but they were white and fluffy, so it was relatively bright out, with a nice breeze that carried with it all the scents of the forest. The smells filled my nose, and I breathed them in deep. I loved the smell of the trees.

"Do you mind if I ask more about your time with the Volturi?" Alice asked.

"Sure," I said.

"Alright then, but if this gets too personal, let me know," Alice said. "I will probably always tell you that, regardless of the situation or the subject at hand. I know how I can be, and having seen the way you are with me, I feel it's necessary for me to keep some boundaries set, for your sake more than mine. Anyways. I was wondering… What sort of relationships did you have when you were with the Volturi? What were the closest, if there were any?"

I smiled, feeling grateful for her being so firm on the fact she was setting some limits for our topics. It made me feel more secure, which allowed me to feel more comfortable.

"I would say, during my ten years with them, I had three relatively 'close' relationships," I said. "The first one was with a woman named Heidi. She was one of the older guards there, one of the stronger ones, too. She was drop-dead gorgeous - tall, muscular, olive-toned skin, dark hair, an accent… Apparently, she'd come from Greece, or somewhere around there, a hundred years before I was even born. She was the one who kind of introduced me to the way vampires acted and mated with one another."

"I take it she was flirty?" Alice asked.

"Super flirty," I said. "She made it no secret she wanted to get in my pants from the moment we met. It took me some time to let her, mostly because I was still adjusting to the whole 'your parents are dead and you're a vampire now' thing."

Alice grimaced. "Sorry."

My chest felt tight, but, I shook my head. "No, it's… it's okay. I've gotten better with talking about that. It was just really rough for a while there. Heidi, I guess, made it a little easier, but she was… pushy."

"Like me," Alice said.

"No," I said. "She was pushy in a way you're not. She didn't take 'no' for an answer the first time, not if she felt there was a way for her to get what she wanted. That's the reason I didn't pursue something deeper with her - the sex was nice, sure, but she didn't respect my boundaries. She was just overbearing too much and too often."

Alice growled while we walked through several trees. "Bitch needs to be taught a lesson, it seems."

"I think she learned it, just later on, from someone else," I said, shrugging. "Toward the end of my ten years with the Volturi, I noticed a change in her. She was with someone else now, a woman named… Bree, I think. And Bree seemed to be the type to not take that kind of crap from anyone, even someone she was attracted to. I think Heidi was won over by that, though I don't know if they're still together now."

"Even so," Alice said. "I don't like that kind of personality. I've seen it often enough in other vampires. They think because they've got these new powers that they're some sort of demi-god, so they start throwing their weight around like they're tough shit. I hate it."

"I don't disagree," I said.

I fell silent as I contemplated it, the way Heidi was with me, and I with her, during that time where were 'together,' I guess. She did teach me a lot about the vampire world and about how I, as a member of the guard, could and should handle interest in me the way she had. Sometimes I wondered if she acted that way on purpose, to try and help teach me, or if that was just the kind of person she was. It was hard to tell, although I remembered speaking, again, to Didyme about it.

"Heidi has a great deal of experience when it comes to lust and sexuality," Didyme said. "Her gift is perhaps one of the stranger ones, in that she is a walking lure - capable of transfixing and seducing men and women alike. I've seen her make even the most hardcore of straight women bicurious enough to let her have her way with them. Only those who are asexual or aromantic are unfazed, though her gift still effects them."

"Really?" I had asked. "How, though?"

Didyme looked at me thoughtfully. "She draws you to her, makes you feel attached. Often she uses this for sexual purposes, but she can also use it to form bonds of kinship or friendship. She is potentially one of the most dangerous vampires in our services."

"So… what she's doing to me is no different," I said, looking away from her. "I'm just a toy for her to use…"

"I don't know about that," Didyme said, her voice softer now. "I am not Heidi, but she does mean well when it comes to how she uses her gift. She truly enjoys making bonds with people, regardless of the nature of that bond. True, she can be brash, and she is, as with many sexual beings, driven by her desires more than even she would care to admit. But still, were her urges and actions detrimental, we would step in. Be patient with her, but also be firm. She can lose herself to her gift."

I let that memory finish and shrugged it off. It was moot now, since I wasn't in Volterra anymore, and while I did question how much Heidi cared, she had a mate of her own, the last time I saw her. Perhaps they were still together. Perhaps she was happy now.

"Who was the second?" Alice asked.

"His name was Alec," I said.

"He?" Alice eyed me with interest. "I didn't know you were bisexual. Interesting."

"Well, I mean, I don't know if I am," I admitted sheepishly. "Alec was… different. He wasn't like other men I'd known when it came to flirting with me. He was very quiet and polite. Charming, too. I think that's what won me over, honestly - I was attracted to his personality. We didn't really have the same kind of bond that I did with Heidi. Ours was more romantic than sexual, and for the year we were together, I was okay with that."

"Only one year?"

"Yeah, only one year," I said. "Heidi was two years. Alec was one. He was nice, like I said, but then… well, I kind of got sucked in by my third mate during my stay with the Volturi. His sister, Jane."

Alice's eyes widened. "Oh my."

My cheeks would've been burning if I could blush. "Yeah…"

"I'm curious," Alice said. "How'd that happen?"

"Jane was one of the nicest vampires to me when I joined," I said. "She treated me well, taught me the most out of anyone, and we talked about things that weren't training or killing or fighting or politics. It was like she wanted to know me as a person, you know? I really appreciated the way she treated me, and as time went on, I just started developing feelings for her. I didn't know until then that she had feelings for me, too."

"How did Alec take it?"

"Actually, he took it really well, as far as I know," I said. "I remember the day it happened - we were hanging out, and Alec just smiled at me knowingly and said 'you can go to her if you want, I won't stop you.' And… I did. Jane accepted me, and we were lovers for… five years, maybe six."

Alice nodded slowly. Her eyes gave away no jealousy or pain or anger at this, which was a relief to see. If anything, she seemed more interested than before.

"It sounds like she was good to you," Alice said.

"She was," I said. "She was actually a lot like you. Strong, tall, protective…"

Alice smiled. "Sounds like my kind of woman. But… If you two were together, then why would you end up leaving?"

I sighed. "Because Jane wasn't enough to make me feel truly happy. She loved me, and… I kind of loved her. But I hated being in the Volturi. I hated being TRAPPED there. I hoped that I would be able to convince her to leave with me, but she was one of the TOP guards. She enjoyed being there. She enjoyed the human blood diet. And even though I feel she WANTED to be with me, she couldn't bring herself to leave."

"Damn," Alice said. "That really fucking stinks."

"Yes," I said. "It does."

Alice gave me a light squeeze. "Maybe in time she'll change her mind."

I blinked a few times. "I thought you wanted me to yourself?"

"I do," Alice said. "But…" She bit her lip, then shrugged. "Never mind that for now. Thank you for telling me, though."

"Oh, uh, you're welcome," I said. I thought for a few seconds. "What about you?"

"Relationships, you mean?"

"Yes," I said, smiling. "Did you have any major ones, besides the one you told me about?"

"Oh, I had many over the years I was a vampire," Alice said, a look of glee in her eyes. "Most were human women - like I said, plenty were short or brief, but, that doesn't mean they weren't good relationships. I liked going out and meeting new women, then having sex with them. It was always fun to see their personalities, to learn their world views and hobbies, and then, have fun in the bed together. I kept in touch with a number of them afterwards. I was never looking for a real relationship, though. And before you ask, this is before I started having visions of you, too. Having sex and then moving on was just more fun for me, I guess."

I nodded slowly. I was only half-aware of the fact we were walking through the woods at this point. "Was it because you liked not having strings attached, or…?"

"It was less about having no strings and more about the freedom of it," Alice said. "I could go to a bar or a club, find some cute, sexy lady who was maybe in search of or in need of a really good fucking, we'd chat, we'd flirt, we'd drink or smoke, and then we'd go and relieve one another's carnal aches. Then, we'd snuggle, and if she wanted to continue for a day or a week, or a month, we would. And if not, we went our separate ways."

"Wow," I said. "I don't think I've ever met someone with that mindset before."

Alice shrugged. "It was enjoyable. I didn't actively want or NEED a full on lover, but then when I started to see you, and I saw us together for a long stretch of time, I got excited. I think by then, I was beginning to WANT something longer. And lo and behold, I got that. I just had to wait a bit longer."

She said it so… freely. It made me smile without even having to think about it.

"And in case you ever worry about whether my feelings for you are spurned on solely because the future 'said so,' the answer is 'no.'" Alice met my gaze. "I could've easily not gone to see you that day in the bookstore. I could've easily seen you and been casual, not once flirting with you or kissing you. But I chose to, because I wanted to. Seeing you through my visions was one thing, but getting a feel for you in person sealed the deal for me. I choose to be with you, so long as you choose to be with me."

"Thank you," I whispered. "For telling me that."

"Anytime," Alice said.

We walked for a while in silence, a comfortable silence, though. I wondered if this would become a normal thing for me - spending time with Alice, potentially spending time with her family. I hadn't expected anything like that when I came home to Forks, but it wasn't something I was upset by or against.

I had worried when I fled Volterra that I would end up alone. Leaving Didyme and Jane, the two people who treated me with kindness and feeling, hurt a lot, but I couldn't keep living there anymore. I was suffocating, feeling more like a prisoner than anything else, and I hated having to kill innocent people to survive. Yet I also didn't know if I would survive for long once I left, without family or friends or a home of my own, save for the one here in Forks.

It felt… it felt like some pieces I had lost twenty years ago were being replaced, in a good way. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but, I hoped that was the case. I hated being alone, and I hated being sad, like anyone else did. This… filled me with some hope.

"You alright?" Alice asked.

"Yes," I said. "I am, thank you."

She smiled wide. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I was just… musing, I guess," I said. "About good things, I promise."

"Okay then." Her smile didn't falter at all. "Well, if you want, we can speed this up, or we can keep taking our time."

"I like the casualness of walking this slow," I said. "It feels nice to be… human again."

"Fine by me," Alice replied. She bumped me with her hip, and I giggled. "You know, I sometimes forget the pleasure of being able to do things at this sort of pace. It's easy to get lost in the freedom of being able to move at superhuman speed, in the strength, and the senses, the endurance… Esme and Calirlse like to stress the virtue in taking it slow sometimes, in enjoying life the way humans do."

"Really?" I asked. "That's neat."

"I think so, too," Alice said. "Though I admit, I forget it, or just ignore that sentiment, more than I care to admit. I think I'm still learning to be able to be as… patient as they are. They're much older than me, older than the rest of us, in fact. They've had a lot of experience being able to adjust to living like a normal person. Measuring their strength, their speed, reacting in a way that feels genuinely human and not robotic…"

I blinked a few times. "You know, it's strange, when I think about the way the Volturi acted, a lot of them seemed to… well, I mean, not that they didn't act 'human' in some sense, but it always struck me that they often didn't take time with anything. They were always dashing around at superhuman speed, or they weren't moving AT ALL for long stretches of time. It was kind of… unnerving, honestly."

"Esme and Carlisle have told me similar stories about times when they could stop moving altogether like statues," Alice said, nodding. "Since we don't pump blood through our systems or breathe normally, we could realistically become statues if we were so inclined. I tried it a few times. I… didn't enjoy it."

I snickered. "I tried it ONCE and got super uncomfortable after, like, three minutes. It was like being dead but being aware of it, and I hated it."

"I lasted an hour during my final attempt," Alice said. "I'm right there with you, though. Extremely uncomfortable to just sit and not do anything. I like being able to smell and blink and breathe in and out. It feels BETTER that way, you know?"

"Yeah, exactly," I said.

"Fortunately, we don't need to worry about that, right?" Alice said. "Also, we should be there soon."

I blinked a few times. "How long have we been walking?"

"Longer than you might think," Alice replied with a playful grin.

I wasn't sure what to say to that, but I smiled nonetheless, and we kept on going. Like Alice said, it didn't take much longer to get to the Cullen house - five minutes, maybe four, and we arrived. I was taken aback a bit by the sheer size of the house - it looked like a mansion sitting in the middle of the forest!

"Wow," I said, and I stopped. Alice stopped with me.

It was large and beautiful - a blue house with a deep brown roof, with a garage a little further off.

"Esme designed and built it for us," Alice said. "We all helped paint the rooms inside, and paint outside, but most of it was her hard work. She's got a thing for construction."

"It looks really nice," I said.

"Why thank you, dear."

Esme appeared from around the house, walking out in a sundress. She came over to us at a human pace before stopping in front of Alice and I. Her eyes were bright, and her smile equally bright and welcoming.

"Hello, Bella," Esme said. "It's very nice to see you again."

"Hi, Mrs. Cullen," I said.

"Esme, please," Esme said, waving a hand. "Mrs. Cullen is FAR too formal in my mind. I hate formalities unless they're REALLY necessary. Such a pain in the stinking ass." She rolled her eyes, then smiled again. "I'm glad you decided to come with Alice to visit us. It gives me a chance to get to know you, which I'm always fond of."

I bit my lip and nodded. "I didn't have anything else to do with myself, so, it made sense."

"I hope THIS stinker didn't bribe you," Esme said, shooting a look at Alice.

"Excuse me, but I wouldn't do that," Alice replied. But her expression, while semi-innocent, was obviously fake. "Okay, maybe I would. But in this case, I promise I didn't."

"ALICE! GET YOUR BITCH ASS IN HERE!"

That was Rosalie's voice. I glanced toward the house and saw her standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, glaring at Alice.

Alice groaned. "Yes, MASTER." She turned to me. "I'll see you later, Bella."

"Okay," I said.

Alice dashed toward the house and disappeared inside after Rosalie.

"Children," Esme said with a chuckle. She turned to me and gently wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "At any rate, I meant what I said - I'm glad you came to visit."

"Thank you," I said.

We started walking together, still at a human pace. Esme's arm stayed tentatively around my shoulders in a way that told me I could shrug it off and she wouldn't mind. I was okay with the close contact, though - Esme gave off an air of calmness, and she seemed completely at ease right now.

"It's been a while since we've had a genuine visitor in these parts," Esme said. "It's nice to have someone likeminded, someone who prefers to drink animal blood over human blood. Not that we're a rarity in this world, but, it's been a good fifty plus years, I'd say."

"Do you get many visitors here in Forks?" I asked.

"Off and on," Esme said. We were heading around the back of the house, though I got the sense Esme was fine walking wherever. "We're an established coven in the world, though perhaps not AS established as others. Did the Volturi ever mention us?"

"I don't recall them ever saying the name 'Cullen' before," I admitted. "But I do think you guys were mentioned in passing, vaguely, though."

Esme chortled. "Fair enough. We're a bit on the small scale side of things, in truth. Ours is a young coven compared to others that have existed for hundreds of years." She shrugged. "We sometimes see nomadic covens that have been around for a long time, and we do our best to be good to them. Usually, they're civil and respectful. Others, though, are less so. Fortunately, THAT sort of 'guest' is much, much rarer."

"Alice said you and Carlisle were the oldest in this coven?"

"Yes, we are," Esme said, smiling. "I am the eldest at three hundred and twelve years old. Carlisle is a bit younger, about three hundred and two. I'm the one who turned him, you see, ten years after I was turned. We travelled together for a good hundred years before we began turning those who would become our children, starting with Rosalie."

"What made you turn them?" I asked, curious.

Esme stopped walking and looked thoughtful. "Before then, Carlisle and I had been content to be together, exploring the world, learning more about human cultures and vampire culture alike. But it grew lonely, eventually. We saw many covens with family structures, and we wished for that as well. I had always wanted to be a mother when I was still human, but I never had the opportunity. So, when we found Rosalie and Royal…" She smiled a little. "Opportunity came knocking. And thus, we would gradually come to form our little family here."

I nodded slowly. "You guys already seem more like a family than what I saw in Volterra, save for a couple, I guess."

"We spent some time in Volterra," Esme said. "Long ago, mind you. They were… odd."

"Wait. Really?"

She removed her arm from my shoulder and grinned. "Yeah, ten years after I turned Carlisle. We met a few of their guardsmen, and when they saw we were relatively new vampires, they brought us with them to meet the leaders of the Volturi. We stayed there in Volterra for about twenty years, during which time we got a better sense of our world. We learned about the society, the laws, other big covens, and so on. Aro and Sulpicia were gracious hosts, all things considered."

My lips twitched. I was still unsure of how I felt about Aro and Sulpicia.

Esme gave me a knowing look. "You don't have to be afraid of speaking your mind if you disagree, dear, or if you have strong opposing feelings. Besides. I said they were gracious hosts, not that we got along perfectly, or that I even LIKED them." She snorted and looked away. "They have a very… black and white sense of the world. They believe vampires are at the top of the food chain, while humans are simply THE food chain. I suppose Aro has more respect for humanity, and more decency. Sulpicia is… less pleasant."

"I know," I said. "I remember her having very strong beliefs about them. It seemed like most of the Volturi felt the same way. That's one of the reasons I had to leave."

"Is that so?" Esme asked, looking earnest in her curiosity.

"I hated having to kill people for blood," I whispered. "It made my chest hurt every time, especially when I thought about the way I'd lost MY parents. And there I was, doing it because I thought I didn't have a choice. I hated myself." My stomach knotted, and I hugged myself. Esme placed a hand on my shoulder. "It got too much, and when I discovered I could survive off animals instead… That helped me decide to leave. I don't like hurting animals, but, I'd rather kill them to live than kill a person."

"I couldn't agree more," Esme said. "It has always felt callous to me to live like that. I can understand having to kill to survive when there is no other option - this, while still saddening, is a reality for some. But the way the Volturi live… it feels wrong."

"Not that they would ever change," I said. "Even the ones who I like…"

"It is the world they know," Esme said softly. "It is the way things have always been for them, and as such, it's hard to change such ways." She squeezed my shoulder and smiled. "But let's not dwell on death and unpleasant things. Would you like to come inside?"

"Oh, sure," I said.

We headed inside, and I was treated to a very gorgeous interior to the house. It was large, like I'd expected, but rather than rich or illustrious like I'd initally thought the inside would be - given the mansion size of the house in general - it was actually very subtle and sparsely decorated. Everything was neat and tidy, yet the furniture was normal, and though there were some cool ornamentations here and there, nothing seemed like it went over a couple hundred dollars.

"It was fun to design the house," Esme said. "I've always loved designing. Constructing came later on, once I was a vampire, since I was free to do it to my heart's content without anyone to tell me otherwise." She snickered. "The beauty of living for so long is I got to watch the world in America change, with society growing more open and accepting over time. It's been amazing to witness it, especially given how life was for me when I was a little girl."

"I can't even imagine," I said. "Oh, and, I like the way you guys have your house set up."

"Thank you!" Esme said proudly. "I'm sure it wasn't what you thought, was it? Or was it?" She grinned. "It doesn't bother me, I'm honestly just curious."

"I mean, it isn't," I said. "I saw the size of the house and thought there'd be more… stuff."

"Fair enough," Esme said. "Carlisle and I don't like to flaunt our wealth. We prefer to put our money to other uses, although we do binge spend every now and then, as anyone would. No, I like antiques, but I like to find things that you see at garage sales or in thrift shops. It's less money, and usually, it opens up the door to customize said items."

She nodded toward a big room with a large TV on the wall, with two couches, and several chairs scattered throughout. I saw Elizabeth and Victoria there, playing a video game. They both paused and nodded to me when they noticed me - I waved back.

"The couches, for example, are something I fastened together from several older couches," Esme said. "And those chairs used to be worn and broken - I fixed them, painted them, then added new cushioning to them. It's a hobby of mine, as you can tell."

"That's cool," I said.

"So you're aware, I'll be leaving for work soon," Esme said. "I'll be back later this evening. Carlisle is here, upstairs in our office. You can tell by smell, I know, but just in case, it's the third door on the right." She smiled. "He'll leave for the nightshift at the hospital a little after I return. As for our monsters, you see those two in there." She gestured to the family room area. "Edward is out now. Rosalie and Jasper are in their room, with Alice. And Royal is…"

"He's out back, painting," Victoria said.

"Not surprising," Esme said. "At any rate, we're here for you if you wish to do something or have a chat, dear. There's beverages in the fridge if you're thirsty - plenty of beer, vodka, wine, brandy, and then some. You're welcome to any."

"Thank you," I said.

Esme nodded, then dashed off in a blur.

"You can come sit with us," Elizabeth said. "If you'd like, that is."

I did so, entering the room, then sitting on the end of the couch. The two of them were concentrating on the video game they were playing - it was a fighting game with DC comic characters in it that looked really cool, although I had no clue what it was.

Twenty years ago, I had been a fan of video games. I wasn't a big gamer at the time, but I liked them, and I liked the concept of being able to play them - having grown up in the nineties, when video games were starting to get more traction and become more advanced for that age, I loved playing classic games like Super Mario 64 all the time. But then the Volturi happened, and I hadn't really played anything despite the fact I had often wished I could.

Seemed like I had a lot of catching up to do with the new world, and that went beyond just settling down again. All the new technology, movies, music, books, video games…

"Damn it, damn it…" Victoria muttered. "Not this time, Liz."

"No! Shit!"

I watched one character dominate the other. The round ended, and Victoria pumped her fist in the air victoriously while Elizabeth groaned in annoyance. They then set their controllers aside and turned their attention to me.

"So, did you and Alice have sex last night?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes full of glee

I sputtered. "Um…"

"Liz." Victoria rolled her eyes. "Seriously, NOT the opening question, babe."

"What? She was with the Volturi for a while, so…"

Victoria waved a hand off. "Sorry, she gets ahead of herself easily."

"Um, it's… it's fine," I said. "And, n-no, we didn't." I bit my lip. "We spent the night cuddling on the couch. It was really nice."

"Aw," Elizabeth said. "That's sad, but at the same time, that's adorable."

Victoria snickered. "Alice is a cuddlebug, despite her protests. It's good you two spent that much time together, though. Good to see your bond growing at a reasonable pace despite how everything started off."

I ran a hand through my hair, brushing a few strands aside. "I mean, you all know what she's seen about me, so…"

"True, we do," Elizabeth said. "But we weren't going to mention it or anything." She shrugged. "I don't mean to overstep, I'm just happy Alice has found someone. I thought she'd found love with the last person she dated, but, when she revealed her visions and you, that just made it all make so much more sense. And while I have zero problem seeing humans with vampires, I do admit, I kind of prefer it be another vampire."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Less trouble to worry about, less precautions to take," Elizabeth said simply. "You being a vampire makes it an even playing field, and with your experience, you know what to expect a bit more, I'm sure."

"I guess so," I said. "I'm learning a lot more than I did with the Volturi, though."

Victoria snorted. "No surprises there. Assholes."

I remembered that Victoria had been a part of the Volturi, leaving before I wound up getting turned. "Victoria? May I ask about your experience with the Volturi?"

"Sure," Victoria said. "I met them during my time as a vampire, long after I'd been turned. My creator was dead by then, and I was a lone, but I'd spent a good amount of time living by myself, learning how to survive, training, and teaching myself how to fight. All that good shit, you know?" She shrugged. "Anyways, I had heard the rumors about the vampire government, so I wound up seeking them out, to see what they were all about. Met them, bought their pitch about joining them, and then regretted it."

"What made you want to join them?" I asked.

Victoria sighed. "At the time, I was on my own. And when you're by yourself, and you meet a big group that offers you protection, kinship, a endless supply of blood, and sex whenever you want it… Not to mention the promise of making me stronger and helping me become the best I could at surviving, which was my penultimate goal at the time…"

"I see," I whispered. "That makes sense, then, why you'd join."

"For a time, I didn't mind it," Victoria said. "I got free booze. I got free fucking. I got to train and hunt, which I enjoyed, maybe a little too much. But as the years went by, I began to feel less like a person and more like a tool. I grew to resent it, to resent the way I was looked at by the Heads. Didyme was the only good one, the only one who gave a shit. She's the one who planted the seed into me that led me to leaving."

"Same for me," I whispered.

Victoria nodded. "I don't regret leaving. And while I may bitch about it, I did have SOME good experiences there in Volterra. But I'm happy to be free, to be away from them."

"And with ME," Elizabeth said, giggling. She nuzzled into Victoria's neck. "Right, Tori?"

"Yes, right," Victoria said. The two shared a quick kiss.

"So, you two spent the night snuggling?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes," I said. I felt a wave of flutters in my stomach. "She was… really comfy."

"She finger your belly button?" Elizabeth asked.

I blinked a few times. "Um. No?"

Elizabeth sighed. "Oh, Alice. Taking it slow is SO not her style. That's cute, though. She probably had the temptation the whole night, knowing her. That or sucking your toes." She giggled devilishly. "You ought to use her kinks against her, Bella. It's so much more rewarding to watch that cockiness fade and her to get all squirmy."

I wasn't sure how to respond to any of that.

Victoria snickered. "In this household, there are no secrets. Not when you've got super senses, and not when you live with people who can read minds, sense emotions, and then some. We know Alice's kinks. We know EVERYONE'S kinks, and everyone knows ours. So we tease and poke at one another over it, because it's fun, and it's harmless."

Elizabeth nodded. "So you're aware, Alice utterly LOVES when women show their navels. You got any belly button tops, you should totally wear them. It'll make it extra hard for her to concentrate on anything else."

"Sandals, too," Victoria said. "Or going barefoot, if you so desire. It's pretty fun, I've done it countless times myself. But more importantly, Alice's got a weakness for feet. Belly buttons and feet are her favorite body parts. Strange, sure, but it gets her off, so exploit it to the fullest, I say."

"Noted," I said, biting my lip. "She also seems to like… submissiveness."

"Fuck yes, does she ever," Victoria said with a broad smirk. "Use these to your advantage, Bella. You'll have her pussywhipped in no time, we guarantee it."

I swore I heard a snarl from upstairs. Victoria and Elizabeth cackled.

"She's gonna be so fucking pissed at us," Elizabeth said. "Ooh, I LOVE it."

Victoria grinned and shook her head eagerly. "Serves her right."

I just stared at them. "Guess what she said was right about having siblings."

"Yeah, we're all shitheads," Elizabeth said. "But we love that weirdo, and she loves us. And don't you worry, we'll be giving YOU plenty of shit when we figure out what makes Bella hot and bothered."

"That's easy," Victoria said. "Beefy alpha women. Bella's spelled it out for us already."

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and turned away. "So what's the game you two are playing called? I've never seen it before."

"Smooth save," Elizabeth said.

"It's called Injustice 2," Victoria said. "The sequel to a video game from a few years back called Injustice: Gods Among Us. Set in its own universe with DC characters who are normally good guys being bad guys, and then some. Fun mechanics, fun story, and if you'd like to try and save face by playing it with us, you're welcome to."

"Oh, um, sure," I said, eager to change subjects despite how poorly I'd handled it.

The two of them grinned at one another.

"This'll be fun," Elizabeth said. "But don't worry, Bella. We'll go easy on the noob."

I blinked. "What's a noob?"

Their grin's faltered.

"Sweet fucking Christ, I forgot," Victoria said. "The Volturi live in a hole."

"You've missed out on so much," Elizabeth said, looking aghast. "All the memes, the new terminologies, the movies, the video games, the PORN!"

"Guess we can be your teachers," Victoria said. "Alice would want it."

I just stared between the two of them. What had I gotten myself into?

 **A/N: And here's the fifth segment. Still thinking this'll be about ten parts altogether, though I might wrap it up at eight. Haven't decided yet, we'll see how it goes as I continue to write this for my friend/the client.**

 **Anyways, I hope you liked it, readers. Comments are always nice, but reviews are not necessary - shoot me a PM if you have ideas or questions. And as always, I am open for commissions, so feel free to PM me if you've got ideas for something. I'd be happy to work with you. :)  
**

 **Cheers and love.**


	6. Part Six

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or anything beyond what is my creation. This is just me dabbling in a commission.**

 **Missing Pieces - Part Six**

"Okay, wait…" I blinked a few times, wrapping my head around this burst of information. "Why is the internet obsessed with cat videos, exactly? I'm still trying to figure that out."

"Because cats are funny and cute," Victoria said. "They're also great for meme material from all the doofy expressions they make." She grinned. "Does that make sense?"

"...but why does a cat want a cheeseburger?"

Elizabeth groaned. "Oh my fucking God, it's like teaching a five year old."

"Hey, I've been away from the media and technology for twenty years," I muttered. "I know what SOME things are, but half of this crap is just so bizarre to me, it's hard to make sense of it all. And I still don't get what a 'meme' is, because I hear that and think it's someone trying to say 'maim' and spelling it wrong."

Victoria snickered. "Oh, Bella. You'll get there. We have a while, after all."

"Forever, in fact," Elizabeth said. "We haven't even GOTTEN to the sexy stuff yet."

I blinked a few times. I was beginning to regret this…

Victoria and Elizabeth had spent the past I didn't even know how long - thirty minutes, maybe an hour or two? - giving me a big spiel about some of the new 'in' things in today's human society. Half of it made no sense to me whatsoever, and the other half sounded like it wasn't even real enough for me to take it seriously. Yet they showed me proof online that, no, it was real. And that confused me all the more.

"Internet culture is fucking insane," Victoria said, rolling her eyes. "Humans nowadays are so strange when it comes to expressing their beliefs. So many of them have their own views on things, yet it's like they can't stand any other opinion besides their own. You would be amazed how often humans tend to argue and bicker with each other over things that should be plainly obvious, but they aren't."

"It's politics," Elizabeth said. "It's always politics."

I frowned. "There were some political stuff in the Volturi, but I never knew much about it. I think the biggest thing that was ever debated on was whether or not humans should learn that vampires exist, with how much our kind should willingly protect humanity coming in second."

Victoria's lips twitched. "And? What did they say about those, if you ever found out?"

I ran a hand through my hair. "Didyme and Chelsea were very pro-humanity, both in protecting humans from vampires in general, and in letting humanity learn about vampirekind existing. They felt it was best to get it out into the open and make ends meet peacefully to avoid any sort of bloodshed or pointless violence. Caius and Athenadora were on the opposite end of it - they want humans to stay in the dark, and feel no reason to bother protecting them from anything. They feel humans can take care of themselves."

"Sounds about right for those two," Victoria said. "Caius and Athenadora were always the most… bloodthirsty of the Heads. Granted, they tend to be the most active and aggressive with any sort of threat, which isn't necessarily a BAD thing. But they have no consideration for humans. Human morality is beneath vampire morality in their eyes."

"I never really spoke to them much while I was there," I admitted. "I think I had maybe three conversations with Athenadora, and one with Caius. They were nice enough to me, I guess, but not overly friendly."

"Yeah, that's them," Victoria said.

"Marcus and Kebi were on the fence, if I recall right," I said. "I don't think I ever spoke to either of them during the ten years I spent in Volterra. Maybe saw them once and that was it." I frowned. "Do you know them, Victoria?"

She nodded. "Marcus and Kebi are the quietest of the Heads, the ones who tend to do their own thing almost as much as Didyme and Chelsea. They're honestly the wisest and calmnest out of all the Heads, so they're sort of the two everyone else falls back on whenever a BIG decision needs to be made. Only downside is, they take a fuckton of time to make up their minds."

"From what Tori tells me, this debate's been going on for a long time now," Elizabeth said.

"Has it?" I asked.

"Since before I joined," Victoria said. "I'm guessing Aro and Sulpicia are 'undecided' as well, but you can tell they'll vote along with Caius and Athenadora? That's their way, normally."

"Sounded like it," I said.

She sneered. "Feh. Fuckers. Don't bother holding your breath for any sort of peaceful resolution between our kind and humans. Aro and Sulpicia like having humans as cattle too much to ever expose our kind to the world. Plus, they believe more humans would come running to be turned than anything. That's their fear - overpopulation. Would mean more sharing of blood, and more potential enemies to deal with."

"Oh," I said. "I see."

"Back to more cheerful topics!" Elizabeth said with a big grin. "At least we don't need to worry about things like gender issues and sexuality in our realm. Everyone's equal, mostly because every vampire can fight to the death if they get pissed off about something."

"Humans are still fighting over gender?" I asked, confused again. "Why?"

Victoria patted my shoulder. "Let's, uh, save that one for another day. Let's get back to teaching you about the memes."

"No, let's show her PORN," Elizabeth said. Her eyes were bright and her grin devilish.

Victoria cackled.

I threw my hands in the air. "Okay, hold on. I know what porn is, okay. You do NOT need to show me that, I promise."

"Aw," Elizabeth said. "But there are so many hilariously terrible sex videos and fetishes we could introduce you to."

In a flash, Alice dashed downstairs, practically pouncing onto me. Her muscled arms pulled me close and she shot her sisters a dirty look.

"If anyone is doing anything sexual with this cutie, it's ME, got it?" Alice said. "She's mine, and I claim all porn-related privileges for myself." She leaned down to kiss my neck, then my lips, before hugging me close to her. "I love you both, but back the fuck off with the sexy stuff."

"So selfish," Elizabeth said. She stuck her tongue out at Alice.

Alice snorted. "How would YOU like it if it was me and Bella wanting to show Victoria porn she'd never seen before?"

"Can I watch?" Elizabeth asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

I stared at her while Alice sputtered. Victoria just laughed.

"ALICE!" Rosalie bellowed from upstairs. "Get back here, woman!"

Alice groaned. "Yes, master."

She kissed me again, then blurred back upstairs. I watched after her, then turned back to Victoria and Elizabeth.

"What exactly is she doing up there?" I asked. "Or do I want to know?"

"Oh, some stinky fashion thing," Victoria replied, scrunching her nose. "I've never understood the appeal to fashion shows, or to their love for clothes." She turned to Elizabeth, who gave her a look. "And that goes for you, too, Liz. I prefer you naked, honestly - clothes just get in the way."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Ignore her, Bella. Alice is helping Rose and Jasper with their latest custom wardrobe designs. They're both very talented and fond of designing shirts, skirts, pants, and so on, but they use Alice as the guinea pig to try everything on and offer critiques. They WOULD have ME up there, but Rose knows I'm even more of a stickler when it comes to anything fashion-related." She paused, looking sobered for a second. "Plus I kind of tore up their outfit the last time by accident."

"By 'accident,' she says," Victoria said, snickering.

"Oh, I didn't know they made clothes," I said. "That's kind of neat."

"If you're into that sort of thing," Victoria replied. "It's admittedly adorable to see someone like Jasper, this big, former soldier boy, making pretty dresses and dapper tops with his beloved. Granted, I suppose it's refreshing to see men do things typically considered feminine, like Royal's love of gardening, or Edward's flamboyant existence."

Elizabeth giggled. "Fuck, don't let him hear you say that. He'll throw such a bitchfit."

I glanced between them. "Where is Edward, anyways?"

"He went to hunt, then likely to brood," Victoria said. "That's his thing - brooding."

"That's… sad," I said quietly. "How come?"

Elizabeth's features softened. "It's his way. I give Edward shit all the time, but, he's never been good at adjusting to this lifestyle. He would tell you he didn't deserve to be granted this second chance at leave, but the truth is, we were both lucky when Esme and Carlisle found us. They turned us, you know. Turned us when were alone and dying with only each other there to keep us company."

I winced. "How? What happened?"

"The house we lived in caught on fire," Elizabeth said. "We were in separate rooms when it happened, but I remember the screams rather vividly - we came from very weathy parents, you see, who died when we were in our early teens. We inherited their mansion, their money, their maids and servants, but we were always fair to them, always trying to treat them as well as we could. So when the fire started, Edward and I raced about to try and get everyone out safely."

She sighed. "We had almost gotten out ourselves when we heard a cry from upstairs for help. I ran toward it, Edward hot on my heels, and we found one of our maids trapped under some rubble that had fallen. We managed to help her out, yet right as she fled the room, Edward got trapped. I tried to lift the fallen board off him, only for the floor to cave in beneath us both. We wound up trapped on the bottom floor beneath rubble, the flames and smoke surrounding us. We were both bleeding. I thought…"

There was a pause. Victoria placed her hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.

"I thought we would die there, devoured by fire," Elizabeth said. "But Esme and Carlisle showed up. Esme destroyed the rubble with barely any effort, then they carried us away. We survived, but the injuries we'd received were pretty severe. I probably would've died from blood loss had they not made the offer to turn us in the end."

"Just like that?" I asked. "No medical treatment? They just turned you?"

She shook her head. "It wasn't their first choice. But they had little time to do much once they got us away from that place. We were bleeding and Edward was badly hurt, Bella. They argued over what to do before they offered us choices - either see if we could get to the doctor's on time, or, be 'changed' like them."

"Oh…" I wasn't sure what to say to that.

"It's a lot more complex than I'm making it sound," Elizabeth said. "It's easier to think about it and make it seem like a speedy event now, but at the time, it wasn't so simple."

"So they offered to turn you both to save your lives," I said, "because they couldn't get medical attention for you fast enough?"

"Yes," Elizabeth replied.

"You ought to mention the fact you both knew them before," Victoria said, nudging her.

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Oh, fuck. Right! Yeah, we knew them before that happened. I forgot that it makes it seem like two strangers busted into our house and then proceeded to sweet talk us into becoming vampires. Oh no, Esme and Carlisle were friends of our parents. We knew them as Mr. and Mrs. Platt, a kindly couple that worked with the sick and the elderly on a daily basis. That's why them showing up wasn't too much of a surprise."

"How did they explain they were vampires?" I asked.

"They didn't."

The response came from none other than Edward, who appeared from the foyer with his hands in his pockets. His features were still relatively hard, but, his eyes were a bit softer than they had been when we first met.

He nodded to me. "Hello, Bella."

"Hi, Edward," I said.

"Alice drag you to come visit us, I take it?"

"Yeah, kind of," I said, smiling a bit. "Helps I didn't have anything else planned, though."

He nodded to this, then came to sit across from us. "Sorry to intrude, but, I saw a good opening and had to take it."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, Eddie," Elizabeth said.

He shook his head in annoyance. "But to answer your question, they didn't tell us what they were. Rather, we knew when we were little that there was something 'off' about the two of them. They were good at acting like normal humans around almost everyone, but Liz and I, we were smarter than most took us for. We sensed they were different. Noticed the little things other people typically would brush off or not even see."

"It's true," Elizabeth said. "All those little things added up when they rescued us from the fire so easily and swiftly. We didn't exactly know WHAT they were, but, we knew they weren't normal people like us. I think that, plus the way they'd always been kind and doting to us since we were kids, helped us choose to become vampires in the end."

"Even though I don't think we earned it," Edward muttered quietly.

"On that note," Victoria said, jumping to her feet. "Methinks it's a good time to go for a hunt myself. Liz?"

"Now?" Elizabeth asked, pouting. "But we've still got so much to show Bella!"

"We can do that when we return, silly," Victoria said. Her eyes glanced from me to Edward, then she shrugged. "Not like Eddie's gonna scare her off with his gloom and doom attitude, after all."

"I doubt that," Edward said.

Elizabeth sighed, then gave me a look. "When we come back, it's round two of the knowledge sharing, Bella."

"I can hardly wait," I said.

"Don't sass me, woman," Elizabeth said. "You can't hope to interact with the modern humans of today if you don't understand the culture and the lingo. It's a whole new world out there, my dear friend! And Tori and I are the bitches crazy enough to show you every aspect of every dirty little corner." She grinned wickedly. "It'll be so much FUN."

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. "Um. Sure…?"

Victoria waved a hand. "It will be, don't worry. Alice would tear our throats out if we overdid it - she's FAR too protective of you, and she'll know if we try, the ass."

I smiled a little at this. "Okay then."

The two of them blurred off, leaving the room silent with just me and Edward.

Edward sat rather casually despite the darker look on his face, though it wasn't exactly an unfriendly look. He propped one leg over the other and seemed to be lost in thought for a long moment. I ran a hand through my hair, wondering how to talk to him with the few details I knew about his personality…

"They mean well," Edward said, breaking the silence. "I know it can be irksome to deal with their quirks, but, they do want to help you in their own way."

"Oh, yeah, I figured that much," I said. I bit my lip. "Liz is… an interesting one."

He chuckled. "Yes, that's one way of putting it. You wouldn't believe it from seeing her now, but when we were humans, she was actually more composed and quiet. Not too shy, mind, just nowhere near as… bombastic and ostentatious as she's become."

"I can understand that one," I said. "Not that I've changed much myself. I guess I'm more… used to crazy things and weird things now. Kind of had to adjust when I was with the Volturi - the guardsmen and the Heads made it impossible to stay in my private bubble, the way I did when I was a human."

He looked at me curiously. "Do you miss it? Your human life?"

"I miss my parents," I said.

He winced. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

I shook my head. "No, it's… it's fine. They were the best part of my life when I was human. They weren't perfect parents, but, they were as good as they could be." I closed my eyes for a few seconds, then reopened them. "I do miss parts of being human. Sleep and food, mostly."

He cracked a wry grin. "You know, I can actually agree with that. Food is the one thing I think we all miss most. Well, unless you're a freak of nature like Victoria or Rosalie - those two say they're fine without food because they can still drink and get drunk. Or smoke marijuana, as Tori and Liz enjoy," he wrinkled his nose, "gross."

"What about you?" I asked.

"Home," Edward said. "I loved the house we grew up in, the town. The people who served our family - the maids, the servants, the butler - they were all good folk. They were our surrogate family after our parents died, even before then, in truth. Our parents… They were nice, I suppose, but they were not loving the way yours sound, or like Carlisle and Esme are. They were distant. Aloof, you could say."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't be." He waved a hand. "That was ages ago. It's not that I don't miss them - Liz and I do think about them from time to time. But even when we were children our servants were our true caretakers. They're what I miss most, in truth."

Silence fell. Edward removed his hands from his pockets and ran one hand through his messy hair.

"I apologize for being as cold as I was when we first met," Edward said. "I don't know how I feel about this situation with you. Being in Alice's head when she's allowed me to be, I've seen much of her visions. The ones of you were vibrant, powerful… I could see her falling for you even though at the time you were nothing more than an image of what COULD be. I just felt that she was overdoing it - letting her desires for you cloud her better judgment."

I bit my lip. "I can… I can see that being a problem, I guess. But, it's alright. I can't say I wouldn't have reacted that way had things been different."

"Honestly, you handled this remarkably well, considering," Edward said, a hint of mirth in his eyes. "I saw the variety of ways Alice considered meeting you. None of them were offensive or pushy, at least enough to raise any red flags. But they were all… Well, Alice has a bad habit of letting her feelings get the better of her. And when you're standing before someone you've fallen for, it makes it dicey when thinking straight."

I furrowed my brow. "Meaning…?"

He chuckled again. "Nothing bad, I promise. She just ended up making a fool of herself in most of the ways she considered - her chosen path of meeting you in the bookstore was one of the least awkward introductions, I'd wager. Still, you took it in stride. I'm a little surprised you've been able to handle knowing she's seen you for years and fell for you years ago."

"Oh." I shrugged. "I dunno, honestly. I mean, I freaked out when I REALLY thought about it, but that was mostly because all of you knew about her visions. I…"

I trailed off and thought more on it.

"It's crazy," I whispered. "To know someone has been seeing you in visions for years, that they fell in love with you from those visions… It feels like some bizarre universe that I got sucked into when everything was," I paused and snorted, "okay, not 'normal,' but, before, I felt like I was understanding the new rules of the new world I got shoved into by the Volturi."

I ran a hand through my hair. "Growing up, I never thought I would be with anyone when it came to romance. Sure, I dated a few guys, and a few girls, but it was never anything serious. It wasn't that I didn't WANT to find love, I was just never confident enough in myself that I was worth it in the end. Then the Volturi stuff happened, and I had to broaden my views, you know? Being flirted with so often, having random romantic bursts of activity, seeing it all around me… it forced me to change my ways of thinking about myself.

"Even then, I didn't think I would find love. Not the kind of love I really wanted, that fairy tale kind of love." My cheeks would've been burning if they could. "It sounds so stupid saying it out loud. I've always sort of wanted someone who was strong and… protective. Someone to hold me close and make me feel good about myself and about life."

"I know that feeling," Edward said softly. "I've seen it. I've yearned for it. I've heard it in the minds of countless other people. It's not stupid. It's… normal. Human, even."

"Then Alice came along," I said. "And all of a sudden, there's this woman who I find super attractive, who's nice and strong and flirtatious and… warm. She doesn't just want to screw me for the fun of it, she actually makes sure I have the choice in anything we do. And when she kisses me, when she holds me in her arms, I feel like I'm in a different world. A happier world, if that makes sense."

He nodded.

I sighed. "I suppose if I really spent enough time THINKING, I'd be freaked out. Maybe I am still a bit freaked out by the fact that this woman saw us together in the future, many times over, even. But when I compare that to everything else I've gone through, it doesn't sound so crazy. And I'd rather be with someone who loves me and treats me with warmth and respect than be in an endless cycle of just sex, I guess."

Edward appraised me silently for a moment before nodding again. "I see. Seems you've proven me wrong, internally, twice over now."

"I have?" I asked.

"I expected that when I asked about it you might reconsider everything," Edward said. "I was prepared for the possibility, at least. But you didn't reconsider. You remain the same in terms of your beliefs of this whole scenario, which is admirable. Strange, definitely. But admirable."

I smiled a little. "So did I pass the Edward test, then?"

He scoffed. "Please. I'm the last person in this coven to 'test' any potentials for romance or joining. I may have my opinions, but I respect the others and know that together, we would make good decisions. No, it's not ME you need to impress. It's Rosalie."

I glanced toward the direction Alice had run to, upstairs, obviously.

"Alice mentioned she was the protective big sister," I said.

"She is," Edward replied. "Fortunately, she won't be difficult to impress. She'll claim she is, and she can be terrifying when she wants, but she's a bit of a pushover when you peel back the tough exterior. Sort of like an overgrown mother grizzly bear."

"An overgrown mother grizzly bear decked out in chic fashion and glitter," came Royal's voice as he wandered into the room. He was carrying an easel and painting supplies, which he just sort of dropped onto another chair on the side of the room. He grinned when he saw me. "Ah, Bela. Figured you'd be over sooner or later. I imagine you've heard the 'did Alice drag you along' line a few times already?"

"Kind of, yes," I said.

He chortled. "Then I won't repeat it, lest I drive you insane."

"You'll do that plenty enough as it is," Edward said.

"The way I see it, either I will, you will, or Liz and Tori will," Royal said. He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "Someone's viable to make you throw yourself off a cliff at some point in this family. Fair warning."

"This is fair," Edward muttered.

"I think I've already gone there and back again," I said. "Though I'm worried Victoria and Elizabeth's teaching me about these… meme thingies might push me over the edge again, but worse. It's so much to take in."

Royal snickered. "Yeah, it's pretty cray-cray out there."

"...Royal, do NOT," Edward said. "I can barely stand the 'hip lingo' Liz and Tori use, don't go throwing out random slang terms to sound cool."

Royal poked his finger at Edward. "See, Bella, Eddie's what we'd call an emo. Always glum, always whining, always a buzzkill to everything he touches. Me? I'm cool. I'm suave. I'm-"

"A hipster," Edward said dryly.

"No, a hipster is someone that claims to be doing cool things BEFORE they were cool," Royal said. "Those are the people that stick their noses in the air at us plebes for daring to enjoy what we enjoy. If anything, I'm a weeb. No, see, Rose is the hipster in this family. And Tori and Liz are stoners, and Jasper is a glorified dildo…"

"HEY!"

There were two voices shouting from upstairs - Rosalie's and Jasper's.

Royal grinned. "You see how they only take offense to my comment on Jazz, but not on Rose?" He nudged me. "My point has been proven. I rest my case."

"And I have no idea what half of those words you used mean," I said, blinking.

"Oh. Right."

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. "See what I mean, Royal?"

I shook my head. It was going to take me time to adjust to the things they were throwing at me - twenty years ago didn't SEEM long, but then, I had to remember that a lot could happen over the course of a single year, so twenty of those, ten of which I was essentially wandering about, detached from society? I could only imagine how much information I was going to need to learn and use if I ever hoped to go back out into the world, more than just a bookstore.

"It won't be that difficult," Edward said.

"How did…" I paused when he tapped the side of his forehead. "Right. Telepath."

"Wait," Royal said. "You can read her mind now?"

"I… yes. Yes, I can." Edward seemed surprised. "Strange. I couldn't read your mind when we met, but, now I can. Is your gift… Did you turn it off?"

I shrugged. "I don't know if I'd say it's 'off.' I just… I guess it's something I can use when I will it to be used. When you guys came to visit me, it was active because I was worried about meeting so many vampires at once. But then, when I wasn't worried, it just sort of shut off. Sometimes I feel like I can't control it, but, other times, I feel like I do."

Edward's lips pursed. "Curious."

"It must not take much mental effort to use then," Royal said. "That's good. Means you've spent enough time training it where you don't even need to think to use it."

"I guess so," I said, at which point I raised my mental shield, just a little.

Edward snorted. "Well. Regardless. Either way, you'll be fine. Don't let my sister and Victoria make it sound like this new world is TOO much different than it was twenty years ago. It's changed in some ways, regressed in other ways, and there's a new set of 'in' actions you should be aware of. Little else."

"Says the broody hermit," Royal said.

Edward stood up. "Well, this broody hermit is going to go brood some more in his room. I've got a book to finish and a CD to finish, so, I'll be doing both at the same time."

With that, Edward swept out of the room and up the stairs in a flash.

"Engaging fellow, isn't he?" Royal asked.

"He's not as… grumpy as I expected," I admitted.

Royal laughed. "No, not right now, anyways. He tends to save the grumping for the moments where people disagree with him too much. Ah, but, anyways." He folded his arms and eyed me quizzically. "How does it feel to be living in a single place again after that mess with the Volturi? Before you ask, I know bits and pieces - tales from Victoria, plus a single run-in ages ago when Rose and I were still young vamps, and some knowledge gained on the side - so I don't want to act biased when I say they don't seem like a fun bunch."

"Fun?" I frowned and tossed that around. "I don't think 'fun' is a good word for them, no. At least, not the sort of stuff I find 'fun.'"

"So was Tori pulling my leg with the frequent orgies thing or is that not fun to you?" Royal asked.

I blinked a few times. "Um. Well, I mean. Sort of? To the first part. I… I never took part in them, but that was a personal preference, not for lack of interest." I rubbed the back of my neck. "What was the original question?"

He snickered. "Does it feel nice to be in a single setting again?"

"Yes," I said. "Being nomadic was fun for the first… year, maybe two years. After that, I got lonely. I missed feeling like a part of a normal society again, even with all the flaws society has, as everyone's pointed out already."

"Eh, don't let that get you down," Royal said, kicking his feet onto the table. "Humans and vampires, they may not sound like it on paper, but they're pretty similar in most ways. Everyone's got opinions about everything, some of them are more extreme than others, some are whinier than others, and so on, but there's good in three-quarters of them. I think it's good you prefer feeding from animals over people - not because I like to stand on the moral high ground, since, still a vampire and all, but, it's just easier."

"Some of you mentioned there were other covens like you out there?" I said. "Is that true?"

"Oh, sure," Royal replied. "We've got a close coven in Alaska that's all vegeterians, as we like to joke. Terrible joke, mind you, but it stuck." He shrugged. "The leader of that coven is a woman named Sasha, almost as old as Esme, I'm told. Her coven's almost as big as ours - fun bunch. There are other covens, too - some Native American ones, literally ALL the Canadian ones I've heard, a chunk of them in Mexico and Asia, and so on. We're common, just not AS common as the other end of the spectrum."

"See, I didn't know that," I said. I thought back to my years in Volterra and shook my head. "No one ever seemed to imply there were covens that lived off animal blood."

Royal frowned. "Strange. But based on what I've heard… Fitting for them, I guess."

"I dunno," I said. "I want to try and avoid thinking about them for a while, you know?"

"Fine by me!" Royal said cheerfully. "See, that's a good approach - focus on the pleasant stuff in life and don't worry about the negatives. It's refreshing to meet someone who can understand that besides Esme and Carlisle. Everyone else spends so much time getting stuck on the depressing shit in life." He nodded to himself. "Try not to be glum, chum. Eddie's got enough glumness for a whole country, after all."

I didn't respond.

It wasn't that I disagreed with that logic, but, I felt more that I didn't want to dwell on the past right now when I was trying to move on with my life. I knew I would never be able to get away from my time with the Volturi - and there was still the fear I felt that someday they might come after me. If that happened, then what would I do?

That… actually made me stop to think - what the hell was the end goal?

I was back in Forks, where I was born, sure. I had a house with working electricity and plumbing - somehow - but it was just me there. Sure, I'd met Alice, and her family, and that was a possibility, but, what if the Volturi came here and they found the Cullens? What if they wanted to ensnare Alice and her family, and somehow, I was forced back into that life? I didn't want that for them, nor did I want them for myself.

"Excuse me a moment," I whispered.

"Sure," Royal said.

I got up and blurred to the front door, opening it gently, then shutting it.

My head was spinning. I hadn't thought of that. I hadn't even considered the idea that the Volturi could swoop in looking for me, find the Cullens, and force all of us to go to Volterra to be their pawns for the rest of eternity. I knew Didyme liked me, but, beyond her and a few of the guard, there was no one I could ask to spare them. I could potentially end up dooming everyone to a life of servitude, and for what?

'Shit,' I thought.

The worry crashed down onto my shoulders. Now I was second-guessing everything, including coming here to the Cullens and allowing myself to get so close to Alice. She was so sweet and protective, but, they must've known the size and strength of the Volturi… What if…

A knocking sound caught my attention. I turned and saw Jasper leaning in the doorway.

"Sorry to bother you," Jasper said, his tone polite and gentle. "But, I could feel your emotions from upstairs. Alice got worried and asked me to come check on you."

I had forgotten he could feel emotions. "Oh, um. Hi."

Jasper gave me a slight nod, and in an instant, I felt a wave of calmness begin to fill the air around me. It was like a slow-moving blanket - it draped across my shoulders, and the tension and worry within me lessened. It didn't go away - I could still think and feel properly - but it was easier to not get lost in them. Jasper's gift in action, I figured.

"Let me know if I'm overstepping," Jasper said. "It's a habit of mine to use my ability to help others when their emotions are overpowering them. Typically, calmness is my main ally, but, that's mostly because I feel it's easier for people to think and rationalize when they're calm."

"It's fine," I said, sucking in a quiet breath. I released it, and the calmness stayed, hovering around me without taking over. "Thanks, I guess."

"Of course," Jasper said. "Do you mind if I ask what happened?"

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "I started thinking. About the fact that I feel like the Volturi will come looking for me, if they haven't already, and then, if they find me, they may find you guys and…"

"Ah, I see," Jasper said. He offered a small smile. "You're worried that the Volturi will use their gifts to force all of us to join them, yourself included. Then, you'll be their prisoner once again, and you'll blame yourself for dragging us into Volterra. Is that about the gist of it?"

My stomach knotted. "Yes."

He nodded. "You don't need to worry for us, Bella. We know the Volturi - Esme and Carlisle know the Heads particularly well, in fact. Esme mentioned she and Carlisle spent time with the Volturi for a time, didn't she?"

"Yes," I said. "But even so…"

"Let's just say they became VERY well-acquainted with two of the Heads," Jasper said, giving me a pointed look. "Marcus and Kebi were very… fond of them. Still are, I imagine."

"Oh." I blinked a few times. "OH."

Jasper chuckled. "And apparently Didyme liked them, even asked them to join as new Heads. Esme and Carlisle declined at the time, though." He rubbed the back of his neck, his features turning thoughtful. "I wonder what it would be like if they eventually decided to accept that offer. Two animal-drinking vampires becoming accepted rulers within vampire society… That would mean there were TEN Heads. Quite a cluster, that."

I frowned. "But if they declined the offer, wouldn't it not matter?"

"Offers like that don't go away unless there's a genuinely good reason," Jasper said with a shrug. "Seeing as how they won over four of the eight current rulers, and I believe Aro rather likes them as well, that would make for one fierce debate, I'm sure. But, pay no mind to that right now." His expression softened. "Are you alright? Does that knowledge help ease your worrying?"

"A little," I said. "Even so, I don't know if that would change things. I mean, the Volturi are so massive and powerful, it wouldn't surprise me if they used other methods…"

"Hmm. True." Jasper seemed to consider this. "Fortunately, we have a few benefits on hand. Alice, for one, can see the future - she can concentrate enough to look at any and all decisions each Volturi Head could make, and from that, divine whether we should be concerned or not. If she saw any chance that they might come to Forks to try and 'collect' us, we would move and cover our tracks. It's doable, you know. And if that should fail, we've got plans for any potential problem. Many plans, in fact."

I stared at him for a long moment. "You guys planned out what to do about the Volturi?"

"Of course," Jasper said. "You can never be too careful in this world, after all."

"I see," I murmured.

Jasper shrugged again. "I'm not trying to make you believe one thing or the other, mind you. I just want you to know we're not overly worried about the Volturi right now. They haven't made any moves against us, and according to Alice, they aren't planning on it anytime soon."

I paused and considered something. "Actually… if Alice DID see something, I might be able to help you out more than I initially thought."

He looked intrigued. "How's that?"

"MY gift," I whispered. "I swear to God, I honestly forgot what my own gift was, the very thing that makes it hard for the Volturi to track me in the first place - my shield. I wasn't thinking about it not long ago and Edward read my mind. Damn. If I use my shield around you guys, then, they can't track you. Not with Demetri, one of their best, that much I know for certain."

"Right…" Jasper said. He shook his head. "I can't believe I forgot what you were capable of, too. Yours is such an interesting ability that you can use it without even having to think about it."

"How did your gift work on me?" I asked, frowning. "My shield is up. Not one hundred percent up, I mean, but even so, your calmness worked super well on me."

He cracked a smirk. "My gift isn't mental - it's emotional. Some gifts are based on emotions, on sensory things, rather than influencing the mind. Were it influencing your emotions via your thoughts, then it wouldn't work, I imagine."

"I… didn't know that," I said.

Silence fell. Jasper continued to stand there, looking at ease and casual. I ran a hand through my hair as I let my concerns wash over me. His calming wave helped a bit, but I felt better knowing that I could help the Cullens if the need arose - and it also helped that Alice was keeping an eye on things with her gift, too.

"Well then," I said. "Guess I freaked out over nothing."

"Don't think of it that way," Jasper said. "It's better to consider these sorts of things than to completely avoid them or not bother at all. Take it from someone who spent time as a soldier - that adage of 'better safe than sorry' is one of the truest I know."

I leaned against the railing, feeling the wind rustle my hair. The weather was decent now, the air filled with the various smells of the forest. I breathed those in, then studied Jasper, curious.

"May I ask about that? About when you were a soldier?"

He chuckled. "I served in the army during the Civil War."

I stared. "Oh."

He held his hands up. "Before you go worrying I was on the Confederate side, I wasn't. My family was born in the South, that much is true, but when I was old enough to think on my own…" He sighed. "Well, to be honest, my father was pro-Confederate. So was my mother. They believed the South had the right of it, and they were supportive of owning slaves." His features hardened. "I, however, couldn't have disagreed more.

"You see, we owned a plantation. Owned a handful of colored men and women that my parents treated like cattle. Sure, when I was a boy, I didn't have the highest of opinions about the folk we 'owned.' But… My perspective changed when I got a little older. And let's just say that I eventually got sick of seeing those poor people beaten and degraded day in and day out. Got to the point that when the Civil War began to brew, I left home and moved to New York. Once the North got its collective ass in gear, I signed up to fight for the slaves."

I bit my lip. "Was it hard to do? To go against your family like that?"

"Yes," Jasper admitted. "It was painful, I won't lie and say it wasn't." He closed his eyes for a few seconds, breathing in quietly. "But I had to do it. I knew in my heart it was the right choice to make, especially after everything that had happened to me as a boy."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When I was around seven years old, I nearly died," Jasper said. "I was playing with some friends around a cliff when suddenly, I slipped and fell. I got caught on a ledge, dangling over what could've been a fall to my death. My friends ran to get help, ran straight to my parents. But were they the ones that came running? No. One of the slaves my father owned, a man my father constantly called a coward and a fool, was the one that saved me. He climbed down that cliff and scooped me up, then brought me to the topside."

"That's… wow," I whispered.

Jasper nodded. "He saved me, even though he had no reason to. He saved me while my own parents thought my friends were playing a prank when they said I was going to die if they didn't come quick. That… That clicked in my head. That's what started it for me, the change in how I looked at people that had a different skin color than my own. It flowed into my teenage life when I left for the North, and it flowed even further when I enlisted and fought alongside black Americans and Native Americans that worked alongside me. It showed me a new meaning to life. I'm glad it happened."

"So you fought during the Civil War for the North, because you believed in freedom for people that deserved it," I said quietly.

"Yes," Jasper said. "It was during that time that I met Esme and Carlisle, actually. Esme was serving as a nurse for the North during that time period - she was seen as the best nurse in the army, though she went by a different name and wore a wig, all that stuff to avoid overt detection."

"Wait, really?" I gaped at him. "I didn't think that was allowed."

Jasper glanced around before giving me an amusingly conspiratory gaze. "In truth, it isn't. Vampires are technically forbidden by law to get involved with any major human conflict - it's been that way since ancient times, or so I've been told. Thing is, there are… loopholes that can be exploited if you know how. Esme knew how to do that, because she's an incredibly wise woman."

"Did she turn you during the war?" I asked.

"Yes," Jasper replied. "I was fighting when I got a nasty shot in the chest." He tapped the right side of his chest. "It was a bad wound, though not grave enough to kill me. Esme tended to the wound, but while she was doing that…" His lips pursed. "We got ambushed, you see. Turns out, one of the soldiers in the South? A vampire. He'd figured out how to exploit the loophole himself, and he was eager to see the South win for his own selfish gains. But, because it was just me, a wounded soldier, Esme saw no reason to hold back. I saw the whole fight unfold. Well, all two minutes of it."

"Two minutes? How'd she end it that fast?" I asked.

Jasper chuckled. "It's funny - even though James Bond hadn't been a thing in those days, this guy took a page from classic Bond villains - he started prattling on about what his goals were, and about ten seconds in, Esme started beating him down. She tore an arm off, crushed his privates with her foot, ripped his throat out, then literally pummeled him to death."

I stared at him, trying to imagine someone like Esme - who was warm and seemed so friendly - doing such a thing.

"Exactly," Jasper said, giving me a knowing look. "It was brutal. Only reason it took two minutes is BECAUSE she spent quite a bit of time pounding him into bloody pieces. Then she burned his remains - what little there were - and that was that."

"Did she know you saw all this?" I asked. "She must've if you remember it."

"Well, see, I sort of… faked being asleep," Jasper said with a shrug. "But it was impossible to do that when you caught sight of what I did."

"How did Esme react?"

"Amused," Jasper said. "You'd expect her to be mortified that I witnessed her use her natural abilities, but she was more lightly annoyed she'd not noticed I was pretending to be asleep at the time. You can imagine that things progressed, and I was turned a few days later."

I frowned at that. "I don't understand. You were wounded, but it wasn't a severe wound. And even though you saw Esme do what she did, she could've easily made you think you were hallucinating or something like that. Why wouldn't you continue to recover and then go back to fighting? N-not that, you know, I would WANT you to fight, but…"

Jasper gave me an easygoing smile. "It was more a combination of circumstances that led to Esme offering to turn me. True, I could have survived and gone back to fighting, but, seeing Esme in action sort of… sparked some desires within me. Of the 'I could fight and not worry about bullets' variety, mind you. Little did I know that by making the choice to become a vampire, I would sacrifice the chance to further fighting for a cause I supported until I was able to be around humans again."

"Do you regret being turned when you were?" I asked.

He seemed to consider this before shaking his head. "No, I think it was the right call to make at the time. If I'm honest, I was a bit reckless and angry when I was a soldier - I tended to act more like Leroy Jenkins than I ought to have. Accepting Esme's request likely saved me from an early death at the hands of my own carelessness."

I nodded to myself and turned my gaze out to the trees.

It was interesting to hear these stories about how these vampires came to be - so far, none of them were anything like my scenario. Jasper, Elizabeth, and Edward had all chosen to become what they were now, and it was apparently Esme that was responsible for a good reason behind it, her and Carlisle both.

I wondered if things would've been different for me had I never gone to Italy…

"Bellaaa!"

I turned as Alice appeared from inside - she blurred over to me and pulled me into her strong arms without any hesitation. I couldn't stop myself from swooning and melting into her. I hugged her as she held me tight and close, a sense of security filling my stomach.

"Mmm," Alice said, kissing me on the lips. "Fuck, I love how cuddly you are."

I didn't say a word. I just smiled and nuzzled into her neck.

"Finished already?" Jasper asked. "And here I thought Rose would keep you occupied for the rest of the day."

"Her highness was kind enough to give me a stinking break," Alice said. "Like hell I wasn't going to come hug my woman." She brushed her lips against my cheek, planting several soft butterfly kisses there. "Holding up okay, Bella?"

"Yes," I said. "I am, thank you."

"She was worried about the Volturi coming for her, and by extension, for us," Jasper said.

Alice's arms tightened ever so slightly. "I would never allow them to take you, Bella. You're MINE, and I'll protect you without hesitation."

I stared up into her eyes. "Alice…"

"Ease up on the possessiveness, would you?" Now Rosalie had come to join us. She came to stand beside Jasper, the two practically the same height. She gave me a brief glance, nodding when we made eye contact, then frowned at Alice. "Make sure you give Bella room to breathe, lest you cause friction with your protectiveness."

"I know, Rose," Alice murmured. She slowly began to uncurl her arms from me, but I stopped her and put them back.

"I like your strong hugs," I said. I turned to Rosalie, smiling at her. "And I kinda really like her possessiveness. It feels… nice to be wanted so badly."

Rosalie cracked a smirk. "That's well and good in the bedroom, but remember that you CAN tell her 'no.' She'll listen."

"Damn right I would," Alice said. "I may be many things, but controlling and abusive are NOT among them."

"Esme would kick your ass if you were," Rosalie said. "And so would I, for that matter."

"I know," Alice said.

We stood there for a moment, embracing. It was honestly the most comforting feeling I'd ever experienced, the warmth I felt being in her arms - part of me wished I could spend the rest of my days being held by her, as silly as that sounded in my head.

"Not to interrupt on the fluffy moment," Rosalie said. "But I'd like to speak to Bella for a moment."

I blinked and turned to her. "Oh. Okay."

"Rose…" Alice said softly.

"Shut it," Rosalie said, rolling her eyes. "And don't use your fucking gift to spy on us, either. It's nothing serious, I just want to talk, okay?" She gave Alice a pointed look. "I mean it, Alice."

Alice snorted as she released me. "How little do you think of me that I would SPY on your conversations? Seriously, I'm protective, I'm not a stinking stalker, Rose."

Rosalie's lips pursed. "True. I just know how you can get."

"I'm fine," Alice said. "Bella?"

I looked into her eyes. "I'll be fine, too."

"See?" Alice said. "Besides." She looked past me and Rosalie, into the house. "The stoners will be back soon, and I know for a fact they're thinking about challenging SOMEONE to some video games." She grinned wickedly. "Time to put those two in their place, I'd say."

"This should be good," Jasper said.

"I'll get the booze!" Royal said from inside. I'd almost forgotten about him in there.

"Follow me, Bella," Rosalie said.

I nodded and followed her back inside, up the stairs, in fact. It was my first glimpse of what their upstairs looked like. It was… big. Big and full of doors, but, nothing else that felt worth noting in my mind. I smiled to myself at how normal it looked despite the fact this was a house full of vampires.

Rosalie stopped and waited a few seconds. I heard Alice and the others downstairs - Victoria and Elizabeth were back now, like Alice had said, and she was eagerly challenging them to some video games.

"Before we go to my room," Rosalie said. "Carlisle wanted to speak to you. He planned on coming to see you in a bit, but, since you're up here." She gestured down the hall to one of the leftmost doors. "That's his and Esme's study room."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded. "I'll wait for you here."

I shrugged and moved down toward the door she'd gestured to. I knocked once, and Carlisle was there, greeting me with a very placid, gentle smile.

"Hello, Bella," Carlisle said. "Rose, you know I could've waited."

"Yes, but she's here now, so, why wait?" Rosalie replied with a shrug.

"Are you alright speaking with me, Bella?" Carlisle asked.

"Of course," I said. "I don't mind at all."

He nodded and politely motioned me into his and Esme's study room. I went in and found that it was a pretty big study room - filled with books all over the place, like a miniature library, with two desks, one on the right, one on the left, and a few chairs serving as the furniture.

"Please, have a seat," Carlisle said, nodding to a chair positioned before the desk on the right hand side.

I did so, and he sat across from me. His expression hadn't changed - it was a gentle one, his eyes soft and warm like Esme's.

"Are you doing alright?" Carlisle asked. "I mean, truly alright?"

I bit my lip. "I suppose so, yes."

He sighed. "I wanted to… again convey my sincere condolences for what happened to Charlie and Renee. I know it likely isn't a comfortable subject for you, so, I won't dally on it for too long. But they were good people when we first met them years ago. We were not the closest of friends, but, I certainly saw them as solid acquaintances."

"Thank you," I murmured. "I… I appreciate that."

"Of course," he said. "And I am sorry. I just wanted to say it."

"It's fine," I said, and I ran a hand through my hair. "Do you mind if I ask a question?"

"Ask whatever you wish of me," Carlisle said.

"Did you and Esme know… that I was the one Alice was having visions of?" I asked. "I mean, you guys knew my parents. Did Alice? Did any of the others? I mean, if Alice had saw visions of me from the start..."

Carlisle folded his hands. "Yes and no, I would say. Yes, we kind of figured that you were the one Alice was having visions of based on the information she gave us. Mind you, she was seeing the future - and the future in particular was always of you when you were this age and a vampire already. She didn't have any visions of you when you were young, nor did she really see you growing up. And if you're wondering, no, she didn't know about you and your parents going to Italy and… everything else happening."

I let out a quiet breath. "Okay."

"I don't think she would've allowed that to happen had she known," Carlisle said softly. "Had WE known, we would've tried to do something ourselves. We don't consider ourselves to be saints by any means." Sorrow flashed in his eyes. "But we try to help those we care for, those we consider our friends. I don't know if it would've made a difference to Aro and the others, though. Their world view is very different from ours, and it always has been. I don't think we could change that."

"I was told you and Esme knew Aro and the other Heads," I said.

"We did," Carlisle said. "Even back then, Esme and I maintained a diet solely on animals - it was the lesser of two evils in our minds. Aro found this interesting, mostly because he had been around for so long that morality had worn off on him - rather, he had a different sense of morality, him and all the others. Even Didyme, whom I know was kind to you, held these similar beliefs. We tried to convince them why feeding from animals was a better choice, but, it fell on deaf ears in the end."

I frowned. "Do you think if you and Esme had stayed in Volterra and become Heads that would've changed?"

He looked thoughtful. "No. At least, not by this point in time. I also don't know that us becoming Heads would've done good in the short term. Remember, the other Heads are all vampires that live by more of a… vampire-centered code, you could call it."

"You mean living in a big castle and only being super active at night?"

He chuckled. "Well, you aren't WRONG on that one, no. Rather, I mean in the sense that they believe themselves to be different than humans. A different species, or a different breed, that sort of thing." Carlisle tapped his fingers on the desk. "Esme and I, we believe a bit differently from that. We don't see ourselves as 'better' than humans, or as some sort of evolution of humans. Nor do we see ourselves as these bloodthirsty, reanimated monsters that seek only death and destruction. We try to view ourselves more in the middle. As an 'other' with the choice to be whatever we wish to be."

"Interesting," I whispered. "I hadn't thought of it that way."

Carlisle chuckled again. "Listen to me yammer on like that. I'm sorry. I can get caught up in the philopsophical side of things if my mind wanders too far. Drives poor Esme insane."

"It doesn't bother me," I said, smiling at him. "Honestly, I heard a lot of those sorts of speeches during my stay in Volterra."

"Oh, I can only imagine," Carlisle said. "I am the type that, yes, I CAN prattle on because I get lost in my thoughts, but, I try to make a genuine effort to not get too attached to the sound of my own voice." He smiled at this. "But some of the Heads? Goodness, they don't have that issue whatsoever. They don't mind one bit chattering away."

"Yeah," I muttered. "Sounds like them."

"You know, I liked SOME parts of what they had there in Volterra," Carlisle said. "I fancied that massive castle of theirs, for starters. Such a wide space, with so much potential for beauty all about. And their library! So vast and plentiful, filled with texts from all over the world. It's a shame that it was so drab when we were there." He looked curious. "Did that change, by chance? Did Aro and Sulpicia invest in some actual color beyond black and white?"

"Not really," I said.

He sighed. "Pity." Carlisle shrugged. "Thank you for stopping to visit. I honestly just wanted to offer my condolensces and take a moment to check on you. I know Rosalie will grow impatient if you stay here too long, but please, feel free to come visit me anytime you wish. I'll be leaving in a few hours for work, so anytime before or after."

"Where do you work?" I asked.

"The local hospital," Carlisle said. "I'm a doctor there."

"A vampire doctor?" I blinked a few times. "Now I've heard everything."

Carlisle laughed jovially. "Did Esme tell you she's a professor in Seattle?"

I gawked. "Okay, NOW I've heard everything."

He was all smiles. "Expect the unexpected, as they say."

I thanked him for asking if I was alright, the exited his room. Rosalie was right where she had been before I went inside. She nodded to me when she saw me, then motioned me to follow once again.

Rosalie brought me to a room close to the end of the hall. She opened the door, then gestured me inside. Once I entered, I was greeted by a gigantic bedroom - decorated with purple walls, it was an odd mix of regal and chic, two terms I never thought I would think together, but there it was. It was decently decorated, but mostly with photos of Rosalie and Jasper together and with their family members, which was actually really sweet to see.

"You have a nice room," I said.

"Thank you," Rosalie replied. "Each time we move, we take turns deciding what sort of decor we'll have, the paint color, and so on. This current was my choice - I've always loved the color purple and all shades of purple, so, that was where my head went when we were designing the room."

I noticed there were numerous mannequin stands on one side of the room, each wearing different kinds of clothes, one a dress, one a jacket and a top, and so on.

"They mentioned you and Jasper made clothes," I said, moving closer to get a better look. "Wow."

Rosalie chortled. "Those are shit compared to our better work. To MY better work, I should say - Jasper takes more time with his. He's far more methodical. I tend to get impatient too easily, something I've been working on for a long time now." She shrugged, then gave me a more severe stare. "Tell me something. Have the others filled your head with stories or ideas about the sort of person I am yet?"

I bit my lip. "Only that you're the protective big sister of the family."

"Accurate enough," Rosalie said. She gave me a once over before crossing her arms. "Let me see your belly button."

"I… What?"

She rolled her eyes. "You heard me. Belly button. Show me."

I stared at her for a few seconds before I lifted my shirt enough to show my navel. Rosalie moved closer, crouching to get a look at it, much to my confusion. I knew ALICE had a thing for them from our conversations - and from Elizabeth and Victoria's comments - but did Rosalie, too?

"The answer to the question you're wondering is… not your concern," Rosalie said. She stood up, a glimmer of mirth in her eyes. "You can drop it, now."

I did so. "What was that about?"

"Alice has a weakness for stomachs, and a very special weakness for belly buttons," Rosalie said. "You know this by now, either from Alice herself or someone else telling you. I firstly wanted to see IF your navel was cute enough, because I know what she likes better than she does. Fortunately, your belly button is cute - you should be happy for that much."

"Um. Thanks?"

She snorted. "The OTHER reason is because I was making a top for you. I wanted to make sure it could show a little skin before I went through the final touches, hence why I asked." Rosalie waved a hand off. "By the by, I'm glad you don't have it pierced."

"Oh." I shrugged. "I mean, belly button rings weren't really 'that' big of a thing when I was still human. Plus, I cried like a baby when I got my ears pierced, so… yeah."

"At any rate," Rosalie said, giving me a once over. "I'm pleased with your physique. You have the perfect body shape to entice my sister. Shame you don't flaunt it a little more - I think if you allowed me, I could create some decent fashion picks for you. If you'd like, that is. I'm not selfish enough to force my wardrobe ideas onto anyone - never would, even when it's a tantalizing thought."

She went over to one of the mannequins, the one with the shirt and the jacket, then began study them. I watched on, a little confused still, but at least now I understood that Rosalie wasn't going to bite my head off or anything like I'd wondered she might.

"You can come over here, you know," Rosalie said. "I was thinking these could be for you."

"Oh!" I came closer immediately to stand next to her. "Thank you. I didn't expect that."

"Alice has been gushing about you for a long time now, as you're aware," Rosalie said. "I was skeptical at first about you, mostly because I didn't fully trust the notion that there was a perfect mate for Alice just waiting for her in the future. Then I met you, and I began to rethink that consideration." She glanced at me, her features a bit softer now. "It's a little funny how well you fit with her."

"Personality wise?" I asked.

"Personality, demeanor, physicality," Rosalie said. "Alice has always been the sort to fall for a particular kind of woman - no doubt you know she's the type that likes her woman gentle, dainty, loving. She has this hidden desire to have a woman that swoons at her every touch, a submissive sort of lover that lets her be in control. And you, my dear, are that and then some." She smirked. "That's not an insult, so you know."

"I kind of figured," I said, shrugging.

"You like a lover that takes charge?" Rosalie asked - her voice and expression were actually one of genuine curiosity.

"I do," I admitted, a little sheepish. "I don't think I'd say I'm into BDSM or anything like that, but, I've always sort of fantasized about having someone who was strong and protective as a lover. When I was much younger, I pictured that being a man, the way I guess you kind of expect a young girl to imagine. But as I got older, I started noticing and liking girls A LOT more than boys, so…"

"Nothing wrong with either of those things," Rosalie said. "You would think that Jasper, being a former soldier, would have a dominant, military mindset, and that I, the beautiful, vain, girly girl-looking bitch that I am, would be swooning over him. In reality, Jasper is a puppy dog, and I honestly identify more with 'masculine' things, save for my love of fashion and dressmaking."

"Aren't those more unisex nowadays, anyways?" I asked.

Her smirk returned, a look of warmth in her eyes. "They are, yes. I'm mostly getting at the fact you shouldn't be ashamed of liking what you like or being the gentle person you are. I heard bits and pieces of your preference to avoid violence, how you hated killing humans for blood, how you preferred to stay away from bloodshed. That's commendable, I want you to know - and I think it makes you the perfect match for Alice."

I bit my lip. "Thanks."

Rosalie nodded, then gestured to the top and jacket. "Would you care to try these on?"

"Sure," I said.

I removed the shirt I was wearing and Rosalie took it from me, briskly folding it and putting it on her bed. She handed me the top first, a blue, silky-feeling sleeveless top - I slipped it on and found that, no surprise, it was a cropped top, leaving a good portion of my stomach on display. Then, Rosalie offered me the jacket - a black jean jacket that was also cropped. It fit perfectly, though, when I got it on.

Rosalie gave me another once over. "Sexy."

My cheeks would've been burning if they could. "Thanks."

"Comfortable?" Rosalie asked. "Showing skin like that, I mean?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," I said. I ran my hands down my stomach, then looked at her. "I'm not shy about showing my tummy. I've done it before without any sort of awkwardness. I don't know if I'd be super comfortable wearing anything skimpier than this, but…"

"You won't have to worry about me forcing that sort of thing onto you," Rosalie said. "In my mind, a woman - or a man, for that matter - should be able to show their stomach just fine. Belly buttons shouldn't be taboo, despite what so many in human society seem to think for whatever bizarre reason." She rolled her eyes at this. "I remember in the 90's, when belly button exposure became a thing. Alice was on cloud nine, and Liz and I welcomed the new addition to our fashion realm."

I giggled. "I remember some of the vampires in Volterra when they saw that becoming more widespread. Half the women started wearing belly shirts, and even some of the guys got in on it. It was… kind of funny, honestly. No one batted an eye at it."

"Yes, and now we're back to people bitching about skin showing," Rosalie said. "I will never understand how society went from being open-minded with skin exposure to somehow becoming more tolerant and LESS tolerant at the same time." She held a hand up. "But, I won't prattle on about that. My views shouldn't take control of this conversation. Sorry."

"It's okay," I said. "Thank you again for these. Are you… are you sure I can keep them?"

"I made them for you, genius," Rosalie said. That smirk returned. "I am going to LOVE watching the look on Alice's face when she sees you walk down in that."

I giggled again, and glanced down at my new top. I loved the jean jacket, and the shirt was super cute. It was the first time in a long while where I'd shown much skin off, and I was honestly kind of happy about it. There had never been any strict rules about dress in Volterra, it was just more 'normal' to see people in their cloaks and coats. And while I loved wearing black, after a while, it did grow a little old…

"There's something else I want to ask you," Rosalie said. "An actual serious question."

"What's that?"

She looked at me, her eyes gentler now. "I know these past few days have been a whirlwind for you. I can't imagine what it's been like - you come home after twenty years in that shithole with the Volturi, alone and without any sort of idea what to do with yourself, then suddenly you meet this cheerful, cocky, sexy woman that flirts with you and ends up telling you she's in love with you. Throw us into the mix, and I have to admit, I'm amazed you've been able to hold it together this well."

I nodded quietly. "Part of it is because I don't know that everything's sunk in. I had a brief little panic attack, but, like I was telling Edward, that wasn't really about Alice so much as it was the idea my future had been apparently set for a long time."

"Does it bother you?" Rosalie asked. "Any of this?"

I mulled it over. "Not… not really, honestly." I looked into her eyes. "The past twenty years have been strange. I think after a certain point, I became numb to my future, to the possibility of life ever going back to being the way it had been when I was human. I lost my parents, and when I was by myself for those ten years, I had no purpose. No goals. No love. Nothing. Life became empty for me, and sure, I kept going, but it felt like I was just going through the motions. This…" I looked at her door. "Alice is the first person to spark real emotion inside of me. It's a welcome change in my book."

She nodded slowly. "So long as you don't feel you NEED to be with Alice."

"No," I whispered. "Alice hasn't made me think that way. Nothing she's done has made me feel afraid or uncomfortable. She's been loving and gentle and… yes, a little forward, but, I think we both know I kind of like it that way."

"She would do anything for you," Rosalie said. "She would fight the Volturi by herself to protect you, Bella. She's madly in love with you, I just want to make sure she doesn't lose herself so much that she forgets that there are boundaries and rules in love."

"I appreciate the concern," I murmured. "But, I'm surprised. You're… you're telling ME this, but I'm not your sister. Alice is."

She chuckled. "I love Alice, as I love all my siblings. Thing is, it's BECAUSE you're not my sister that I want to look out for you. Don't get me wrong, Alice is an amazing woman, and a great lover. I've seen it enough times to know she would never hurt you or force you into something, never willingly. I'm just also aware that she's not perfect - none of us are. We make mistakes. We don't always think. I'm the oldest, so I see it as my job to help the others when I can."

"You're a good sister," I said.

Rosalie smiled. "I'm also a vain, bitchy asshole, but, I try. Besides," she gave me a pat on the shoulder, "you're probably going to become my sister at this rate, so I might as well get used to treating you like one, huh?"

I gaped at her, struck by those words. My mind went blank, and I was suddenly incapable of thinking straight. Rosalie's smile remained in place, sincere and friendly.

"I…"

I couldn't fathom what to say to that.

Rosalie chuckled. "You're welcome to go downstairs if you want. Make sure Alice gets a good look at your belly - she'll be drooling like a fucking waterfall in no time, I'm sure."

"Oh, uh, sure," I said. Her words still had me reeling. Me, her sister?

Then again, I remembered Esme making it clear to me that she was offering a chance for me to join their coven - even though they'd only known me for, what, a day or two? I shook these thoughts off for now, thanked Rosalie again for the top and started to go downstairs, only to stop and turn to my old shirt, currently sitting on her bed.

"You'll get it back, I promise," Rosalie said without even looking where I was.

"Okay," I said.

And with that, I left her room and went downstairs.

The future was a strange thing - not once did I stop to think that my future would hold anything like this when I was in Volterra. In my earliest years there, I thought I would be stuck serving the people who killed my parents and turned me into a monster for the rest of eternity. Then, as time went on, I began to think of fleeing and being free, only for that to remind me that I had no real freedom without a family, without a home, without anything but clothes on my back to carry me around from place to place.

Now, here I was, in my hometown, twenty years later - and I had met a woman who had fallen in love with me years ago, and a coven of vampires that not only preferred to drink animal blood instead of human, but they were all welcoming and kind to me, treating me like I was part of THEIR family.

I started to wonder if this was what the future had held for me the whole time. To lose the biggest pieces of myself, only to eventually find new ones - not to replace what had been lost, but to fit in elsewhere, to help me feel complete in a different way. As I went downstairs at a human pace, I wondered if that was the case. Fate was strange, if so, but I wasn't against it. Not by a longshot. Not when I felt… good again.

I didn't feel whole. I never would, not with Renee and Charlie gone, with the life I had and the life I COULD have had gone. At the very least now, though, I felt better. Better than the past twenty years, to be sure. And I was honestly kind of excited to see where it all went - I was eager to follow this spider web Alice said the future was like and find where it ended. I hoped it was somewhere good, and part of me felt it would be.

I felt a surge of warmth and happiness in the pit of my stomach - it spread through my body as I headed down the stairs. This place wasn't home, but as I looked at the walls, and smelled all the scents, and listened, I felt like it could be, if they accepted me.

'It feels like they aready did,' I thought - though I hadn't spoken enough to Esme, or at all to Carlisle yet, to truly feel that was an acceptable line of thinking to have.

When I made it into the living room, I was greeted by the sight of everyone else - Jasper, Edward, and Royal were watching Alice, Elizabeth, and Victoria play a video game together - a shooting game. A very, VERY competitive shooting game.

"Fuck you and your visions, Alice!" Elizabeth shouted. "I am claiming the victory in this if it's the last thing I do!"

"Bitch, please," Alice said. "You stink at this game."

"Shut up!"

Victoria cackled. "I'm still better than both of you combined, you know."

They took turns shooting the ever-loving stuffing out of one another. I smiled and leaned in the entry to the room, watching on. Jasper was the first to notice me - his lips twitched like he was fighting back a smile, and he nodded to me. Edward was next, and he gave me a once over before rolling his eyes, a smirk tugging at his lips.

'Guess they all know about Alice's preferences,' I thought.

Edward must've heard this because he nodded. Seeing as how my shield wasn't up fully, I wasn't bothered by that fact.

I stayed where I was, though, watching on. At least until Elizabeth spotted me.

Elizabeth squealed in delight. "Belly button!"

Alice froze from where she was sitting. I tried my hardest not to bust up - I fought the huge grin threatening to take over my face, which was impossible when Alice shot up and turned to see me. The expression she gave me when she saw my stomach on display was a thing of beauty - her eyes went wide, her mouth dropped a little, and she looked utterly transfixed.

Victoria and Elizabeth both paused playing their game and whistled at me.

Alice blurred over to stand before me, her eyes still on my stomach. It took her a moment to meet my gaze, at which point she cupped my cheeks and kissed me.

"I'm gonna fucking kill Rosalie for this," Alice said as she pulled me into her arms.

I giggled and hugged her back. "You don't like it, then?"

"Someone's getting exciiited," Jasper said in a hilarious sing-songy voice.

Her siblings all burst into snickers.

Alice sighed. "I hate all of you." She brushed her fingers down my stomach. "And you, my dear, are a stinker."

"Do you not like it?" I asked, grinning wide.

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously I do." She met my gaze. "You want to play with us?"

"Maybe," I said. "I wouldn't mind watching, though."

Alice kissed me, then ducked down to plant a kiss on my navel, sending a surge of heat through my body. I bit my lip when she jumped back up and grinned.

"Come on, then," Alice said. "You can cheer me on while I mop the floor with these bitches."

I giggled and joined her on the couch, Alice curling her arms around me and pulling me close.

"You think it'll be that easy?" Elizabeth said. "You weren't doing too hot for a while there, Alice."

"Here's an idea for a bet, to spice this shit up," Victoria said, with the most shiteating grin on the planet aimed at Alice. "How's about we do a three round burst of different video games to see who comes out on top. Winner gets to lick alcohol out of Bella's belly button - a whole bottle of it."

"I'm down," Elizabeth said, giggling wickedly. "Sounds sexy!"

Alice stared at them. "Um, how about-"

"Sure," I said, glancing up at Alice, then back to them. "I'm cool with that."

Alice's face was the most hilarious thing I'd ever seen. "Oh FUCK no." She growled and grabbed the controller. "Get your asses ready for the next round. I'm OWNING both of you, you got that?"

"You can tryyy," Elizabeth sang out.

The room filled with snickers again. I smiled and nuzzled into Alice, sighing with a geuine wave of warmth filling my body. Alice and her sisters began to play again, and I watched - but more than anything, I was just happy where I was. If this was what the future held for me, then, I was alright with that. I would never forget the losses I had suffered, and never stop loving my parents.

But, to be able to find love again like this… It made me hopeful.

 **A/N: Part six! This is an ongoing commissioned piece I've been at. It's been done for a while, but I've been dealing with a lot of stuff (laptop issues, sickness, California weather) that have kept me busy. But, I'm back, and here we are. :D**

 **Please don't feel a need to review this if you'd rather not. Critique and suggestions are always welcomed; I know it's far from perfect, but, I have had fun writing this and delving back into the old Bellice stomping grounds. It's a pleasure to post this, and thank you to any who stop and read.**

 **Peace - Hollow**


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